Dreaming Terror
by WriterRoxas
Summary: Yuuka and her servants have arrived in the Dream World, a land separate from the newly-created Gensokyo and the Outside World. While Yuuka likes the place, the ruler of this land does not like strangers living in her realm...
1. 01 - Dream Location

**I'd intended for this to be a one-shot, but it became quite a bit longer than expected, and I have quite a bit more planned. Might be no more than two or three chapters in total, but I prefer keeping size down when possible.**

**Anyway, this story is based on a scene from a Touhou RP I was in a while ago. A sub-plot I introduced to give people something to do at Yuuka's mansion was to establish that she - or rather, Mugetsu - had a grudge. The whole thing was basically a territorial claim. Decided to adapt the 'origin', though things will be very differently from how it might have been in the RP. No Kurumi in the RP version, for starters.**

**Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

Gensokyo. A wonderland filled with creatures rejected by the world. In this place, common sense is defied. In this land, youkai are free to play to their heart's content.

The border that separates this magical country from the outside world contains yet another dimension within. How? You would ask such a question in a place like Gensokyo?

It is known as the 'Dream World' a decidedly generic name for such a mysterious location. At least it lets you know exactly what it is. A land of dreams, the likes of which Gensokyo could only wish to compare in its endless possibilities.

The Dream World had exactly two residents who ruled over this domain. Providing dreams for everyone, they lived alone and, presumably, peacefully.

"Gengetsu! You traumatised three people with your messed up nightmares again! Wipe the damn smirk of your face for once in your damn life and do your frickin' job _properly_! What'll happen if people find a way to never sleep again because of your fantasies!"

Presumably.

The 'peace' of this realm was about to shatter into shards of terror, however. For a youkai was looking for a suitable residence to settle in…

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Nice place." Yuuka nodded with a content look as she stared at the rather space-like environment. "Could use a few new features, but hey, it's a fixer-upper, right?"

"If you say it is, it has to be true, master." Replied Elly, raising the brim of her hat to peer at the emptiness they faced. From Yuuka's other side, a third girl snorted.

"As someone who doesn't sound like a suck-up, I hafta say that this place sucks hard." Kurumi said dismissively, earning a glare with enough hate to kill lesser beings from Elly.

The green-haired flower youkai tutted disapprovingly, tapping the tip of her umbrella on the blue-tiled ground below them. "Now, now, girls. No fighting, I asked you to become friends, didn't I?"

Elly immediately bowed her head. "Sorry master, I will refrain from dignifying her insubordinate words with a response."

"And I'll laugh as you desperately convince Lady Kazami here that you're a proper little girl," Kurumi snickered, earning yet another glare from the angry servant.

"Kurumi…" Yuuka warned with a sigh. "I took you with me because I thought you needed a _helping _hand. Don't make me show you my _disciplinary_ hand."

The blonde vampire looked slightly nervous, and fluttered her large, purple wings slightly as she replied, "Sorry Lady Kazami, lost my mind for a second…"

As Kurumi nervously tried to laugh off her words, Elly huffed, blonde curls bouncing upon her shoulders as she faced forward. She trusted her master's judgement and everything, but that vampire had been nothing but a nuisance ever since they'd saved her from that vampire-hating village before they came to Gensokyo…

"Now please kiss and make up, I wanna see if there's any plots of land for sale." Yuuka said, walking off. Kurumi frowned and rolled her amber eyes. Yuuka was cool and all, but like hell she'd ever get along with her little ass-kisser of a servant… and why was she suddenly standing right next to her?

Kurumi glanced at the frowning Elly. "What?"

"Master's orders," Elly stated, scythe resting against her shoulder. The vampire blinked, pulled a disgusted face, and stepped away.

"That's just disgusting! She didn't mean it literally!"

Elly's own yellow eyes darkened. "I know. I was going to apologise for daring to call you insubordinate. And wait for your own apology, while I'm at it."

"Horny little freak," Kurumi folded her arms. "Everyone knows that you just want my awesome bod."

"I thought you said last night that it was my master's body that I seek?" Elly enquired coldly.

"Ha! Admittance!"

_Why did I take them both in…? _Yuuka wondered with some exasperation, leaving the two to squabble. _Shoulda stuck to being a bogeyman, at least then I wouldn't be adopting lost souls for alien reasons…_

Still, despite the non-stop bickering, Yuuka had somehow grown attached to them both. Odd, as Yuuka wasn't the type to form bonds with anyone, but hey, it wasn't really all that bad!

Yuuka hadn't wandered too far when she finally found someone. Or maybe she was the one that had been found. Either way, a scattering of magic bullets struck the ground before her feet, accompanied by a voice from above.

"Who dares intrude upon my sacred land?" A bellowing, commanding voice echoed throughout the realm. From a short distance away, Yuuka's servants had frozen mid-verbal battle, nervously looking around for the source.

Untroubled, Yuuka looked to the sky, seeing a figure floating some distance away in the sky. Smiling, Yuuka waved at the person wearing a blue maid uniform with a pink apron. "Hi there! Name's Yuuka Kazami - prob'ly heard of me - and I was scouting for a nice place to stay!"

The figure was silent for a moment as she regarded the intruders.

"…Can't say I have, you must be a nobody." The figure finally replied, her voice heard by all despite the distance and normal tone of her voice. The comment immediately cemented her status as 'most moronic sentient being that has ever lived' in Elly mind, and she was not shy in sharing this sentiment with said being.

"Watch your mouth!" The blonde maid ordered the blonde servant. "You are in _my_ land, you are in _my _power, and I have _no_ problems destroying your feeble minds if you piss me off!"

Finally descending to ground level, the maid returned her attention to the ever-smiling Yuuka. "And you… what the hell do you mean, 'looking for a place to live'? You have any idea where you are?"

"Somewhere that's not quite Gensokyo or the world it has separated from," Yuuka replied brightly, playing with a strand of her long hair. "It's a nice place, I wanna live here."

The maid tilted her head with a raised eyebrow, then started laughing.

"Ahahaha… no, no you cannot stay here. Go away." She demanded with folded arms. Yuuka pouted, hanging her umbrella on the crook of her arm to clasp her hands together as she pleaded with the maid.

"But-but I wanna stay! Please, I wanna staaaaay!" She whined.

Kurumi watched with a bemused expression. "…You look up to that? I had no idea Lady Kazami was like that."

Elly shot her a venomous look. "Master is simply playing with that moron, you moron!"

"Stop being redundant, it's redundant." Kurumi replied in a deadpan tone.

"That's not redundancy, I just used the same insult for two different people!"

Once more, the two servants devolved into squabbling, ignored by their master and the rude maid.

"This realm is mine, and mine alone!" Said maid pointed out firmly. "Only my sister gets admittance! Now you can just screw off before I- wait, how did you even get in here?" She finally realised that her realm was supposed to be closed off to others. How had this mere youkai gained entry?

Yuuka only smiled mischievously in reply, which clearly irked the maid.

"Tell me and leave, or I extract the information from you before you die in the most horrific way imaginable!" The blue-uniformed girl warned, her eyes flashing with malice. Said malice was quickly followed by confusion when the girl with the scythe suddenly fell to the ground, rolling along the ground and laughing uncontrollably.

Kurumi was also surprised by this, and seeing the maid looking in their direction, quickly distanced herself from her crazy associate and shrugged. The maid glared at Yuuka. "The hell's wrong with her?"

"I imagine she found your earlier words to be quite hilarious," Yuuka guessed, grinning. "Because your words imply you have the power to harm me, and my servant assumed you were joking."

"…And why would she assume that?" The maid asked coldly.

Yuuka's grin widened. "Because you are so far below me it is ludicrous to even entertain the notion."

"Ah…" The maid seemed to understand this explanation perfectly. "I see, I see… I'm nowhere near your level of power, am I? Not even worth comparing? Why would I oppose you if my demise is certain?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Yuuka nodded.

Then the girl in the maid uniform kicked her away.

Sailing over Elly and Kurumi, the duo had frozen in shock when the flower youkai had disappeared into the distance, leaving only a very pissed off maid.

"Stupid bitch!" She yelled after the distant Yuuka. "You don't even know who I am, do you? I, the magnificent mistress of the dream world, _Mugetsu_, would _never_ be weaker than a mere youkai and her pets!"

Elly looked at the maid, then in the direction her master had flown, and back again. She couldn't comprehend it… how had she managed to knock her master back so far? Yuuka couldn't be harmed! She was invincible!

Yet this… servant-like girl had the nerve to harm her master? Oh hell no, Elly would _not _let that slide.

"You're gonna pay for that, fool!"Elly snarled, instantly on her feet and flinging her scythe at the bemused maid. No doubt she was too busy wondering how the hell one thought throwing such an impractical tool was supposed to be effective in the slightest, but hey, Dream World.

Kurumi, meanwhile, maintained her distance and contented herself with a sigh. Elly sure was stupid, she thought. Kazami just got launched across the realm, and Elly thought she could take this person? Granted, the vampire couldn't detect any real power from her, but… well, she'd kinda proven her strength. Blue Maid was way outta that idiot's depth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yuuka landed, feet-first, quite some distance away. Well, that had been surprising. The flower youkai hadn't expected so much force behind that kick! She wondered if wutsherface actually broke a rib. It still throbbed slightly… ah well.

She took a step forward, intent on returning to Meidosu or whatever she shouted and shoving her umbrella so far up that silly demon's-

"Oh my, for some reason I really like you!" A new voice commented with a gleeful, if reserved, tone. Yuuka glanced to the left, where another blonde watched her with an open-mouthed smile and strangely vacant gaze. Despite the angelic-looking wings that spread behind this other girl, Yuuka knew she was as demonic as her (presumably) sister.

Yuuka smiled at her. "Well, I am a lovely person, miss…?"

"Name's Gengetsu!" The demon replied cheerfully. "Me and Mumu live here, ruling over dreams!"

"Indeed," Yuuka answered with a nod. "Well, lovely chatting with you, but I think I want to mutilate your sister's foot for being so rude, now if you'll excuse me…"

Gengetsu shook her head, expression never changing as she raised a finger and began to waggle it back and forth. "Nuh-uh-uh! Mumu doesn't wanna see you, so I'll need to eject you from the premises!"

"Oh, but surely you'll let me collect my servants before I go?" Yuuka pleaded mockingly, turning to properly face the demon. "I swear, I'll just run over there real quick and-"

"Mumu wants me to punish you~!" Gengetsu interrupted brightly, her open-mouthed smile never leaving her face. "And Mumu's gonna break your servants for picking a fight! Sorry, but you really should know better when you break into someone's home!"

The flower youkai chuckled, gripping her umbrella tightly. "Is that so? Well, looks like I have an excuse to truly destroy 'Mumu' if she tries anything on those two. And as for you…"

The umbrella was raised, pointed at the smiling Gengetsu. "If you're going to impede me, you'll be vaporised into a mist of atoms!"

It was Gengetsu turn to chuckle. Unlike Yuuka however, the demon sounded more girlish and excited, her saucer-like eyes sparkling with amusement and… something else that Yuuka found all too familiar.

"Mist of atoms, huh~? Sounds interesting! Hm… how to counter… oh! I'll obliterate you from existence!" Gengetsu threatened playfully, throwing some punches to the air around her. "Ha! Ha! Gengetsu Fist! Like that!"

Yuuka simply rolled her eyes and fired a ball of explosive magic.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dodging the scythe was a simple enough task for Mugetsu. Sure, while it was surprising that it was thrown so well, it was still a terrible throwing weapon to use against anyone, least of which someone of her calibre!

Mugetsu had leaped upward, easily avoiding the spinning blade. She duly noted the cluster of magic bullets flying her way, as well as the servant in red dashing from underneath and firing several more of them from below.

Scoffing haughtily, Mugetsu merely swung her arm, a blast of pure power radiating outward and eliminating all projectiles heading her way. Weak.

Elly growled, noting that this adversary was going to be a tough one. Catching the returning scythe with the ease of someone who's mastered the fine art of boomerang-like scythes, Elly flipped and leaped upwards as well upon landing, elevating her height to equal Mugetsu.

"…You're gonna get punished real bad for turning your blade on me." Mugetsu pointed out, feeling the need to add a yawn in her statement. Elly's scowl intensified.

"You hurt my master! No one gets to live after that!" she yelled back, and Mugetsu smiled coldly.

"D'aw, how cute, the little girl idolises her precious mummy! Well, you two can take your punishments together! Won't that be fun!"

With a cry of rage, Elly swung her scythe, a shockwave sailing towards the unperturbed demon. She easily ducked under it, then began to weave and dodge Elly's subsequent attempts. Growing more and more frustrated, Elly charged at the demonic maid, scythe raised to slice.

Mugetsu grinned.

Elly swung her scythe in a downward arc once she was within distance, throwing her entire body into the strike. Mugetsu grabbed the blade as if it weighed nothing, paying no heed to the startlingly small cut it left on her palm.

Elly had nearly lost her grip on the shaft and was left dangling as she stared at Mugetsu in shock. The blonde demon merely grinned back coldly.

"Pretty stupid, aren't you? What made you think you could take me, hm?"

Elly regained her scowl and piercing glare, spitting at Mugetsu, "I'll kill anyone that harms my master! There's no alternative!"

"Cute." Mugetsu commented. "Well, nightmares are more Gengetsu's thing, but I think I can do a good job drilling it into your head that invading my home and threatening to kill me-"

The demon raised the scythe higher, with Elly still clutching on to it, and delivered a punch that would have broken the spine of a human to her unprotected stomach. Elly's eyes bulged and she spluttered, but refused to let go of her weapon.

"Is a very big no-no and I don't like it." Mugetsu finished, casually throwing the injured servant to the ground, right where Kurumi happened to be observing with a wince. Even from a distance, the vampire had _felt_ that punch…

With a grunt, Kurumi caught Elly, glad that the sharp weapon she was clutching in her grip didn't end up embedded in her skull in the meantime. Not that something as minor as an organ-killing punch was enough to protect Elly from a little scolding, however.

"Happy now, idiot? You're gonna get tortured to death or something when you could've only got a slap on the wrist!" Kurumi hissed.

Elly barely managed to deliver a cold glare before groaning in pain and curling slightly in the vampires arms. Not that Elly wished to remain so, and began trying to squirm from her grip. Kurumi hastily set her down, letting Elly stumble away and gasp away.

With a sigh, Kurumi folded her arms. "I hope you learned not to pick fights with a colossus. You don't compare, small fry."

"Shut up!" Elly growled, gripping her weapon tighter and glaring at Kurumi with disgust. "You wouldn't understand, you're just master's temporary pet! You know nothing of loyalty!"

"…Uh-huh." Kurumi replied calmly. "Sounds like a prelude to a shit storm of issues, so I'll skip that part and let you get murdered by a demon, okay?"

Elly merely grunted and turned her gaze upwards, towards the waiting maid, who gave them a sickly sweet smile that barely hid her desire for blood.

"Did you get your pep talk?" Mugetsu drawled, her voice laden with amusement. "Not sure how good meaningless words are, but hey, maybe you might have the motivation you need to tear my apron!"

"I'll tear more than that," Elly promised, brandishing her weapon in a swift, precise gesture. "I'll prove to you why I am the servant of Yuuka Kazami!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Huh. The demon wasn't too bad.

After effortlessly dodging Yuuka's initial blast, Gengetsu had rushed straight at the flower youkai, expression as clueless and cheerful as ever. She struck out at Yuuka several times, who parried with her umbrella each time, finally swinging at Gengetsu with her own fist, only to meet air as Gengetsu retreated.

There weren't many creatures who would willingly enter melee range with someone like Yuuka - not that this demon seemed aware of who Yuuka was, or her reputation - and there certainly wasn't much more that could survive such a bout. The green-haired youkai was grinning as she regarded her opponent.

"You're either brave or brainless. I hope you won't feel offended if I assume the latter?"

Gengetsu chuckled merrily. "Nah! Mumu says it all the time anyway~!"

"I wonder why." Yuuka commented, suddenly swinging her umbrella upward in a vertical arc. A wave of magic energy flew for Gengetsu, shredding the tiles below as it went.

Gengetsu only tilted her head curiously, watching the attack shoot towards her with no worry on her smiling face. Yuuka frowned. People who reacted that way to an attack were the kind that…

Gengetsu raised her hand, taking the full force of Yuuka's magic without even flinching and causing it to dissipate. All that remained was the trail of destruction on the ground, as well as a small mark on the demon's palm.

Shaking her hand, Gengetsu smiled ever more, saying, "Owie! You're strong for a youkai! Do you, like, eat a lot of spinach or something?"

Yuuka's smile returned. She was going to enjoy this little match.

"It's been seventy eight years since I met someone who could match me," Yuuka commented, shouldering her umbrella. "Sounds to me like you're the one eating their spinach. What was your name again?"

The winged demon's smile widened even more. "Gengetsu! Gengetsu of the Nightmares~"

"Yuuka Kazami," the flower youkai replied, "The titles handed to me range from 'child of the flower demon' to 'ultimate sadistic creature'. Use whatever name feels appropriate."

"Yuyu it is!" Gengetsu cheered. "Call me Gengen!"

"No."

The words had barely left Yuuka's mouth when Gengetsu charged once more. Yuuka reacted swiftly, but she only barely deflected the demon's strike. The blonde merely allowed the momentum of being deflected to force her body into a spin, spreading her wings as she did. Yuuka raised an arm to block, only to find herself knocked back by the force of her strike.

_Those wings of hers are like steel. _Yuuka mentally commented, finding her footing again just fast enough to lunge her umbrella at the approaching demon. While Gengetsu side-stepped, Yuuka amended, _No, steel is nothing for me. She's just strong as hell. Awesome!_

With both combatants recovered, they resumed their bout. Yuuka swiped at Gengetsu, swiftly pirouetted away from the strike and leaped towards her, hands curled into claws as she aimed for Yuuka's face. The flower youkai noted the smile that never went away. It must really be painted on or something.

It wasn't long before the two had locked themselves to each other in a powerful grip. Gengetsu had trapped Yuuka's umbrella under one arm, with her free hand tightly gripped by Yuuka, who was managing to keep the demon's nails away from her neck.

"Almost~" Gengetsu whispered, gleefully watching her own struggles to slice open the flower youkai's neck. "One more little push…!"

Yuuka's hand began to glow a nauseating yellow, and Gengetsu tilted her head. "Oh?"

A moment later: Boom.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Elly cried out as she collided with the floor, her screams increasing in volume as a follow-up of several magic blasts struck her prone figure. Mugetsu only giggled as she continued attacking the far weaker youkai, revelling in her superiority. Stupid little child, thinking she could stand up to someone on Mugetsu's status? Such stupidity required one hell of a beating to hammer in the lesson; don't pick fights with Mugetsu.

The demon ceased her assault, watching as the girl in the tattered red sun dress gasped and hiccuped, on the verge of tears. Well, it was impressive she hadn't cried and begged for mercy already, but she had already reached her limit.

"Well? Ready to throw yourself at my feet and beg my forgiveness?" Mugetsu asked smugly, lowering herself to the ground and standing over the beaten girl. Said girl could only glare at the maid with pain and hate.

"Oh, right, I smashed you so hard you forgot how to speak," she gloated, eyes twinkling devilishly. "Okay, just procrastinate yourself before me then. That'll do."

"No, I think it's finished _now_." Kurumi spoke up, and Mugetsu glanced at the vampire over her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow as Kurumi glared at her, a hint of fear in her eyes as she stared down the demon.

"…Did you just give me an order?" Mugetsu asked coldly.

"You've won! You don't need to do anything else!" Kurumi argued, clenching her fists anxiously. No doubt she was already mentally kicking herself for interfering, but no matter how annoying and bratty and haughty Elly could be… the vampire found herself unable to watch this massacre.

Mugetsu turned, facing Kurumi with a cold expression. "…I don't need to, no." She agreed, speaking slowly. "But what I _need _to do and what I _want _to do aren't mutually exclusive."

Kurumi gulped. "J-just stop it! She surrenders!"

"S…shut up." Elly gasped, painfully rolling onto her stomach and attempting to climb onto her knees. The servant's limbs shook horribly, clothes and hairs frayed, hat long gone. "I… won't-"

The rest of Elly's defiant statement was cut shot by a nonchalant strike by the demon's heel colliding with her face, no doubt breaking something. With a cry of pain, Elly collapsed once more. Kurumi flinched, wanting nothing more than to simply escape this person and let Elly play the heroine for no reason.

Instead, Kurumi merely inhaled, breathed out, and glared at Mugetsu with a new-found resolve. "You know what? I think I hate you more than that dumb ass behind you. You just pissed off the wrong vampire!"

"Yep." Mugetsu replied dismissively. "So… what makes you think you can do a thing? My realm, my rules, and I am so much more powerful than you. What do you two even have to prove?"

Kurumi merely shrugged. "Well, I've lost my mind, and Elly there's trying too hard. Still, you suck and I don't like that."

Mugetsu merely stared at the vampire, no hint of emotion in her expression. After a moment of that, the maid raised her hand-made a flicking motion. The projectile was so fast that Kurumi barely noticed it. It struck her shoulder, and she bit back a cry of pain, instead focusing on glaring at Mugetsu while she tried to work out exactly what to do here. Sure, she could talk big, but Kurumi was still struggling with the part where she could take on a far superior opponent without dying. It was hard.

Once again, Mugetsu made a flicking motion, but Kurumi was already on the move. Barely avoiding the bullet via ducking and shooting forward, the vampire fired bullets on either side of the demon, which then exploded in said maid's direction in wide arcs.

With a roll of her eyes, Mugetsu simply folded her arms, letting a powerful aura exude from her body and simply repel Kurumi's magic. Feeling this powerful, oppressive atmosphere, Kurumi grimaced, but pushed on.

Now practically face to face, Kurumi spiralled to the left, letting a flurry of bullets fly wildly from her hands in an attempt to keep Mugetsu from attacking. While the maid simply blocked with her own strength, the vampire flew past Mugetsu and landed next to the injured Elly, gripping her shoulder to prevent the injured servant from rolling around or anything.

"Grin and bear it." Kurumi commanded, pressing her fore and middle finger onto Elly's face, aggravating her already-broken nose. Swiftly, the winged vampire pointed at Mugetsu with her bloodied fingers, a red wall erupting between her and Mugetsu. Just in time as well, since the demonic maid had attempted to blast the two away and have Gengetsu clean up the remains later.

The wall instantly dissolved and faded away to nothing, leaving a mildly surprised Mugetsu. "…What did you…?"

Another burst of magic aimed at Mugetsu's face, then Kurumi carried Elly in her arms and flew off as fast as she could, putting as much distance between them as possible.

Mugetsu, having hurriedly ducked away from the bullets, growled as she watched the intruders flee. That… had annoyed her. Mugetsu didn't like being annoyed.

…Too bad for them, they were in Mugetsu's land.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"…Let go." Elly stated flatly as the vampire carried her off. Under normal circumstances, both would be appalled at the idea of being carried like some sort of bride, but right now survival was very, very high on the list of priorities.

…As was arguing, apparently.

"No." Was Kurumi's reply, accelerating as fast as she possibly could. Although unneeded, she beat her wings furiously in an attempt to build more speed.

Elly's grip on her scythe, held by an arm dangling towards the ground, tightened. "I have to beat her."

"Uh-huh."

Anger plainly visible on her bloodied face, Elly spoke coldly. "Put me down!"

"When we're not in imminent danger of being erased, I'll think about it!" Kurumi snapped, patience growing thin. God damn it, why did she think saving this brat was a good idea? She was already in danger of divine retribution for saving this idiot, and she couldn't even be _grateful_ for it!

And why was there no places to hide?

The entire realm was pretty much blank, except for a blue-tiled floor .And plenty more space underneath even that. For someone who lived here, the place was pretty damn bare.

"…Why are you even helping me?" Elly asked bitterly, having given up on persuading the vampire to drop her.

"Good question. Why are you desperate to fight on?" Kurumi countered.

"For my master's sake, of course." Elly replied, and Kurumi could only snort in contempt.

"Do you have any idea how pathetic you sound?" Kurumi asked. "You talk like a damn puppet or something! Why fight for someone who hasn't even bothered to come to your rescue yet?"

Elly was silent for a moment, her expression cold, barely containing anger. "I live only for my master! Whether or not Master cares for my well-being is irrelevant, I'm no more than a tool!"

Kurumi came to a stop, staring at Elly incredulously. "Do you have _any_ self-worth? Or common sense at all?"

"What would you know about loyalty?" Elly spat back. "I bet you'll just abandon my Master as soon a-"

Even from the considerable distance, an explosion was heard. Kurumi wheeled around, seeing a vague yellow glow.

"That's… Master's doing." Elly pointed out. But that demon wasn't that far away, was she? "Master's fighting?"

Kurumi frowned, realising that Mugetsu didn't seem to be pursuing. Did that mean she's went after Yuuka? That was a stroke of luck, then. But still… could Yuuka handle someone like that? The flower youkai was deceptively powerful, but so was that Mugetsu person…

Then a maze erupted around them.

The girls were startled when pure, white walls had erupted from the ground around them, forming what looked like a corridor that split off into two directions. Take make matters worse, the walls seemed to climb for miles upon miles upon miles. And a ceiling formed, as if to say 'Yeah, I like overdoing it, rats! Dohoho!'

"…Not liking the looks of this." Kurumi muttered, tapping one of the walls gingerly. Then clenched her fist and hammered at it. Seemed tough enough…

"Let me try," Elly requested, shifting her body until Kurumi reluctantly let her go. Gripping her scythe tightly, Elly struck at it with all her might. Not a scratch.

With a grunt, the dishevelled servant tried again, this time empowering her blade with magic, causing it to glow a bright white. Kurumi hissed, covering her eyes and huddling away as the wall was struck once more.

Elly clenched her teeth with frustration. Even with the heat of the sun, this wall was impenetrable…

"Guess we're stuck in here…" Elly sighed, turning to look at Kurumi. "What's up with y-ah."

Kurumi glared at Elly reproachfully. "Why do have a spell like that?"

"Master taught me it." Elly shrugged. Before she could reply, Kurumi was cut off by a giggling voice.

"Wanna know the awesome thing about dreaming? Logic can make as much or as little sense as required!" Mugetsu's voice echoed throughout the closed off area, causing the two to search the corridor wildly for any sign of her. "Oh, don't worry, I may or may not be nearby~ I just felt like playing with my troublesome guests! Who knows, it might make you so tired you'll never move again!"

Neither servant or vampire liked the sound of that. While they both no doubt hated the very idea, they drifted closer together, alert for any sudden ambushes.

"So I made a maze." Mugetsu stated, probably shrugging while she did so. "And a game; reach the centre and you escape!"

"…Um, why do I get the feeling that this isn't as simple as you make it out to be…?" Kurumi asked as calmly as she could manage.

"Because I never finished explaining the rules~!" Mugetsu laughed chillingly, causing Kurumi to grimace.

Done with her chuckling, Mugetsu continued, "Well then! While you attempt to navigate this maze, you'll come across a few obstacles. Nothing major, really - just a couple'a ghosties, nues, or even a simple challenge!

"And if we decline?" Elly asked, readying her scythe for battle.

"I don't care what you do," Mugetsu replied. "You're in my world. You do whatever the hell I tell you to. Don't like it? Won't stop you from killing yourself."

While Elly and Kurumi glanced uneasily at each other, Mugetsu proclaimed, "Well then! I think you have the gist of things, so let's get started! Run, my pretties! Run!"

The insane laughter slowly faded over time, but the two girls remained motionless, trying to figure out the best course of action. Obviously, the suggested method of leaving was out of the question, but going through with this game? Either way sounded equally lethal, to be honest.

Finally, Kurumi groaned, turning to Elly with a pained expression. "I hate to say it, but… we might just have to work together."

"Joy." Elly sighed, obviously not a fan of this idea either.

"Let's just get it over with, okay?" Kurumi suggested. "The longer we stay here, the more crazy I'll become."

Elly nodded slightly. After gingerly touching her healing nose, Elly glanced at the crossroads up ahead. "…Left?"

"Right looks the safest to me, actually…" the vampire replied thoughtfully.

"The directions look exactly the same, genius." Elly replied deadpan.

Irked at this, Kurumi gave her a sidelong glance. "Then tell why left is more appealing to you?"

"Instinct!"

"Right it is, then!" Kurumi stated.

It was going to take a while for the two to actually solve the maze…


	2. 02 - Gengetsu - The Ultimate Nightmare

One advantage to explosions - they usually did a good job eliminating something

One disadvantage to explosions - they made very dangerous point-blank techniques.

Yuuka brushed off her damaged clothing, wondering if she overdid it ever so slightly. Did she really need to put so much power into that blast? Now she'd gone and damaged her clothes! Her hair must be a mess as well… Oh well, Elly was pretty damn excellent when it came to mending things, so that was just fine.

The flower youkai glanced at the prone, winged figure lying several feet away, unmoving. Didn't look like she was conscious, so her blast did the job it was supposed to. Goodie. Now then, time to do even worse to the rude maid from earlier…

"Owie~ That was sooooo dangerous!" Gengetsu exclaimed cheerfully, sitting up and rubbing her head. She still grinned like a carefree child as she glanced at a bemused Yuuka. "You're pretty crazy!"

"Yes, I get that a lot." Yuuka nodded, wondering how Gengetsu could have shrugged off the blast like she herself had. Sure, the demon was tough, but…

With an excited giggle, Gengetsu leaned to her feet, wings fluttering for no real reason. Ignoring her own dishevelled appearance, the demon instead found Yuuka to be far more important. "Are you okay? With a blast at that range, I figured you woulda burned your own face off~!"

"I'm not a naïve little girl with no idea of my own limits." Yuuka informed her with a tight smile. "I'm more concerned with the fact that you seem to have sustained no damage."

Gengetsu's wide smile reached Cheshire-levels. "Don't be! I'm far too strong to be damaged by any random youkai~!"

"…A 'random youkai'?" Yuuka repeated, the air surrounding her suddenly becoming chilled and thick, as if her mere presence was poisoning the air. "Oh dear, you really have no idea who Yuuka Kazami is, do you?"

Gengetsu shook her head cheerfully.

"Let me tell you, then." Yuuka said coldly, slowly stepping closer to the demon. "Yuuka Kazami is known to many as the origin of all evil. The mistress of everything that lurks in the dark. The queen of the damned. And a cute flower girl, but mostly bad stuff." Yuuka informed.

Gengetsu nodded, listening intently.

"For as long as mankind has existed, I have been there. Feeding from their fears and desires, I have shaped many of the myths and legends that frighten children to this very day!" Yuuka declared, stepping ever closer to the angelic-looking girl. "I have had countless millennia to refine my technique! There is no one who can deliver fear as well as I!"

Yuuka, now within arms range of the demon, suddenly gripped Gengetsu's throat and hoisted her into the air, fingers digging tightly into her throat. "Yuuka Kazami is no mere 'youkai'! Yuuka Kazami is the most powerful entity that currently lives!"

Gengetsu didn't struggle or reply. Instead, with that smile never leaving her face, she raised both arms outward, the landscape changing within an instant.

Suddenly, Yuuka found herself in the middle of a ruined town, pillars of smoke all that remained from what appeared to be a devastating attack. After a quick cursory glance, she returned her gaze to the captive demon. "And what you are doing is…?"

"S-stay back!"

Yuuka glanced over her shoulder, seeing a young boy fleeing from something. Now where had he come from…? Well, what did it matter? This was nothing more than an illusion, after all. Whatever Gengetsu was trying to do was not going to work.

The boy noticed the flower youkai and froze, eyes wide with terror. "N-no! You were just- get away from me!"

Yuuka ignored him and simply threw Gengetsu to the ground.

"This is a sad attempt at reversing a situation, you know." Yuuka informed her, planting a foot on Gengetsu's stomach to prevent her from getting back to her feet. "If you're trying to make me look like a monster, I already am one."

"Oh, I know~!" Gengetsu grinned. "I'm just showing you my power! Remember, I control nightmares!"

The flower youkai grunted in response, glancing at the boy who continued to stare fearfully at them.

"You're the base of many nightmares, I noticed!" Gengetsu continued, "About… huh, sixty three billion, two million and three hundred thousand, six hundred and twenty nine nightmares. That's… that's a world record."

"Yes, I _am_ very good at what I do." Yuuka sighed impatiently. "Now, what is your _point_?"

Heedless of the dangerous tone in Yuuka's voice, the cheerful demon continued, "Well, you know how this is a dream world? And anything can happen in a dream?"

"Yes?" Yuuka sighed once more, then flinched as a sword sprung from her chest.

Blinking, she stared at the bloody blade, wondering just how in the hell that had gotten there. Craning her neck, she saw the boy from earlier held a blade and had stabbed her back. He still maintained that fearful look in his eye, but also some form of determination.

"This dream is over five hundred years old." Gengetsu noted happily. "But like every other dream, it contained the dreamer's wishes! Ever since you did whatever it was to this boy's life, he's dreamed of nothing but slaying the vile demon!"

Yuuka turned to look at the dream-boy, his grip instantly slackening from the sword as he stumbled away. Currently ignoring the sword, Yuuka stepped toward him, a cold look in her eye.

"Oh my, you'll kill him?" Gengetsu asked curiously, smiling as she sat up and tilted her head. "Haven't you ruined his life enough? Must you desecrate his dreams as well?"

Yuuka flicked the boy's head, he dissipated. The village disappeared.

"You control nightmares, huh?" Yuuka muttered to herself, placing a hand to her chest. The sword was gone, but the wound and blood remained. Not that she would be deeply affected, but if it had pierced her heart…

"Nightmares are nothing more than illusions, in the end." Yuuka shrugged, turning to face the demon once more. "And there is no illusion that can…"

Yuuka's gaze almost solidified the air with ice.

"Something wrong?" Gengetsu asked innocently, as the bloodied, battered and almost unrecognisable bodies of Kurumi and Elly swung from their tethered positions of a towering tree branch, directly behind Gengetsu.

Yuuka's grip on the umbrella tightened, her knuckles white. "What is this?"

"Ah, this?" the angel giggled, her tone carrying a hint of maniacal glee. "As you know, I control nightmares! To create the best bad dream for everything, I prey on their fears, hidden deep within their hearts!"

Gengetsu's eyes were wide, unblinking, almost doll-like. "No matter how black, shrivelled and devoid of morals one's heart may be, _everyone_ has something they fear! Who would have thought you'd fear for the safety of your cute little servants~?"

"…Illusions will _not_ affect me." Yuuka snarled, all pretences of patience gone.

Gengetsu's grin somehow became even wider, colder. "Is that so? In that case, will you care more if I tell you that Mumu will deliver unto those two, this very fate you see in your scariest dreams?"

The tree and the girls disappeared, leaving Gengetsu and Yuuka alone. "Those two have annoyed my dearest sister, and they will be punished. Much like how you will be for invading our home and assaulting me!"

"…You didn't seem like the type to hold a grudge." Yuuka noted, slowly walking towards the demon. Gengetsu laughed as her hands glowed with raw magic.

"Oh, I don't have a grudge at all!" Gengetsu explained cheerfully. "Mumu just really, _really_ hates outsiders~! I'm just a mindless enforcer!"

Yuuka smiled coldly. "Just a shame you chose the wrong profession. Now, move aside or die where you stand."

"Ah, the gallant knight plans to rescue her endangered princesses~!" Gengetsu sighed, clasping her glowing hands together. "How sweet~ but I don't deal with fairy tales!"

And with that, Gengetsu threw her ball of pure power.

* * *

"You do realise that if we take a third right, we'll return to the fifth crossroad we passed, right?" Elly noted impatiently as Kurumi tried to persuade the gatekeeper to keep following. She wasn't having too much luck.

"Yeah, and?"

"Why didn't we just take a left if we were gonna go in that direction then!" Elly asked with no shortage of exasperation on her injured face. The blood had long since dried and her nose was recovering well enough, but youkai still had limits to how fast they could heal. Also, that had been quite the beating she'd taken from Mugetsu earlier, so the servant was hardly at peak condition.

"It's a maze! These things are disorientating!" Kurumi defensively snapped back. Elly snorted, then grimaced at the dull throb of pain that sent across her face.

"Common sense is a virtue, just think for two seconds on where we're going, and this won't be too hard to solve." Elly argued with forced calm. As nice as it would be to beat the annoying, insolent whiner of a vampire, the scythe-wielding girl had decided that escaping the lunatic demon's trap was just a _teensy_ bit more important. Just a little

Kurumi merely huffed and crossed her arms, "Very well, Elly the Genius, what's your solution?"

Elly didn't answer immediately. Truthfully, she had no idea either, but there had to be _some_ sort of solution… wait, it was so simple!

"The outer walls!" Elly suddenly proclaimed, banging the end of her bladed weapon on the tiled floor below. "We just follow that wall until we reach the exit!"

Kurumi blinked, opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. She repeated this for several seconds before finally saying, "…Are you really Elly? The one I knew wouldn't come up with such an obvious, yet logical conclusion."

"I can make your death look like an accident." Elly threatened coldly. "But yes, I came up with I-"

"No, wait, we're supposed to find the centre." Kurumi sighed in realisation. "Crap. Well, guess you're idea becomes stupid."

Elly swallowed her venomous retort, and instead said with a shaking voice laden with restrained anger, "Well, at least I have a method of moving around this maze! You can keep turning right all you want, but I'm gonna find an exit!"

And with that, Elly turned and flew off, leaving the vampire behind.

"…H-hey…" Kurumi said in mild disbelief. "We can't… you're… I saved your life, you ungrateful little hussy!" she yelled after the retreating figure. "Don't just leave me stranded in the middle of a goddamned maze!"

No reply came as Elly rounded a corner, and Kurumi's expression went from surprised to utterly furious. Then just a little scared.

…_Stay calm, Kurumi… just stay calm… _the vampire chanted to herself. _It's okay, all you did was lose extra baggage. Lady Kazami will understand it's all Elly's fault if she gets hurt, right? And I can't be held accountable if Mugetsu finds her…_

_Wait, didn't I attack Mugetsu to save that stupid servant?_

Kurumi bolted after Elly. Since Kurumi had effectively signed her death warrant and personally handed it to her executioner with a smile, she might as well go down with the cause of it.

Almost bouncing off of a wall, Kurumi zoomed off in the corridor's new direction, almost missing the tattered servant leaning against the wall back on ground level.

"Elly!" Kurumi braked to a halt, then descended. "What the hell? Don't just run off like that!"

Elly scowled, arms folded and glaring at the floor. The scythe rested against her shoulder.

"We have to work together to get outta here before Mugetsu gets bored of us!" Kurumi pressed on. "We'll use your stupid method if we have to, but can we please not keep fighting?"

The servant mumbled something.

"Huh?"

Elly sighed and spoke up. "I know, I'm sorry, okay?"

Kurumi was surprised Elly had apologised. She was at a loss for words. "Uh… s'okay, I guess…"

Elly glared at the vampire.

"…Oh, right. Um…" Wow, this was hard to say. "…S…s-sorry…"

Elly merely nodded. For once, neither of them were making snide remarks to each other. The amount of self-restraint this must have taken would have no doubt used up all of their will power to do so.

"…And I'm not a hussy." Elly muttered, unfolding her arms and walking further inside. Kurumi opened her mouth to reply, decided her earlier apology covered that insult as well, and merely followed quickly.

For a while, neither of them spoke, Kurumi simply following Elly as she herself followed whichever direction her chosen wall led. It felt like an eternity until something happened to break up the tedium.

The two girls came to a stop at the sight they beheld upon turning yet another corner. There, lying beaten and broken on the ground thirty feet away was…

"Master!" Elly cried, launching into flight immediately and speeding to her master's side. She didn't listen to Kurumi's yells, intent on helping only her injured master. How the hell could that demon have-

Something grabbed her ankle just as the ends of her hair seemed to frazzle at something in the air. Her nose throbbed as her body was pulled back, and the servant saw Kurumi clinging to her leg, a scowl on her face.

"Let go!" Elly growled, trying to kick herself free. "Get off, my master needs m-"

"That isn't Kazami!" Kurumi yelled back, struggling to hold onto the flailing girl. "It's a trick!"

Elly paused. "…What…?"

"Can't you feel it?" Kurumi asked. "You nearly flew right into a trap, you brain-dead moron!"

Confused, the servant turned her gaze towards her Master. The bloody figure raised its head to stare at them lifelessly, and just a few feet between them and Yuuka- no, this thing…

"An electric field?" Elly muttered. She could sense it now, the powerful magic that his in plain sight.

"I think there's enough power in it to kill even a youkai." Kurumi growled, tentatively letting the servant go.

Suddenly, the figure threw back its head and laughed. The duo leaped back, startled and ready to flee. Well, Elly was opting to fight whatever dared take the guise of her precious master, but still.

The laughter came to a sudden stop as the figure stared at them again. It spoke with an annoyingly familiar voice. "Not bad for a low-class vampire! Looks like you'll need a tiny bit of effort to fool!"

"Mugetsu?" Kurumi asked.

The fake Yuuka grinned. "But Curls there… hm, looks like she's as stupid as she is weak. To be honest, I think you'll have a much easier time escaping without the liability, Fangs."

Elly raised her scythe. "Say that to my face, you bitch!"

"Nah, wouldn't want to make you cry!" The fake Yuuka laughed, causing Elly's blood to boil.

"Stay calm…" Kurumi urged, though she herself was far from it. The vampire couldn't tell if this was Mugetsu in disguise, or talking through some sort of puppet or anything, To the fake Yuuka, Kurumi asked, "So what now? Do we turn back or what?"

"Oh, don't worry, you can pass by here now!" Mugetsu assured them. "But remember: Stick with Little Miss Dumbass and you will end up dying!"

With a final chuckle, the figure just… faded. Both could sense that the magic field just ahead had disappeared as well, but neither moved.

Slowly, Elly began to lower her scythe, until her shoulders slumped. She was staring at the floor again.

"…Come on." Kurumi finally said, flying onwards.

"…I'm not a burden." Elly growled, and the vampire turned back. "I'm not! I'm Master's servant… I… I'm not useless!"

"Never said you were?" Kurumi nervously replied. This was just great, now Mugetsu had went and screwed with Elly's head. Kurumi really didn't need to deal with a paranoid, scythe-wielding maniac right now.

Elly turned her glare to Kurumi. "I know you're thinking it! Every other time you have no problem saying stuff like that!"

"Does it matter?" Kurumi growled in frustration. "Do you really give a crap about what I think of you? We need to help each other out of this mess, okay?"

"Won't you make it out much quicker without me?" Elly asked angrily. "Am I just holding you back?"

"You're the one I'm following, remember?" The vampire snapped back. "And for the record, I trust _you _way more than I trust a demon who's out to kill both of us!"

Elly opened her mouth to reply, but found she had nothing to say. Slowly, she closed her mouth, the anger fading from her face. Kurumi watched, her own annoyance fading as she watched the servant move from anger to… helplessness?"

"…L-let's go." Elly suggested wearily. She slowly floated onwards, past the speechless vampire.

* * *

It was nice to know that, no matter how strong the enemy's attack was, there was a way to avoid it. In Yuuka's case, her trusty umbrella sustained not even a scratch as it blocked Gengetsu's attack.

Of course, Yuuka was still blown back by the sheer force, but she herself had taken no damage, and she recovered quickly enough to kick at Gengetsu while the winged demon tried to take advantage of Yuuka's uncontrolled flight.

Unfortunately, Gengetsu had grabbed Yuuka's leg and, with a playful twirl in the air, threw Yuuka to the ground. As Yuuka smashed through the blue tiles that made up the floor, the winged demon unleashed a barrage of energy upon the fallen youkai, overwhelming Yuuka with her frightening offensive power.

Remaining in her position in the sky, the demon in white beamed at the damage below. The tiles had been obliterated, leaving a large, cracked hole that seemed to lead nowhere, much like the featureless sky. Yuuka herself remained suspended just below the floor, an arm raised to protect her face from the volley. Removing this arm, Yuuka's crimson eyes glared back at Gengetsu.

"Still kicking?" she giggled, sounding absolutely delighted. "You really are a tough youkai!"

"And you're a troubling pest." Yuuka replied, floating upward and setting herself down onto the ground. Although she didn't show it, she had taken a fair amount of damage from that barrage. Her clothing was frayed, and Yuuka was stooping forward just slightly. Gengetsu noticed.

"Looks like I have the upper hand~" The demon cheered, allowing herself a twirl of celebration. "Tell me, Yuyu, how do you plan to reverse the situation?"

Yuuka's lips curled into a smile. Then she began to chuckle. Then she bellowed her laughter, the sound of a mad woman filling the realm. Gengetsu watched eagerly, wondering what Yuuka had found so funny. Oh, a disagreement about the situation, right?

"I disagree with your assessment of the situation at hand." Yuuka said, once her laughter had finally died down. Shouldering her umbrella, the flower youkai continued, "Tell me, what makes you think you have an advantage?"

"…Lotsa things!" Gengetsu exclaimed, the began counting the points on her fingers with a cheerful expression. "Like my superior fire power, my having the high ground, I've taken less damage, and… well, because I say so~!"

Yuuka merely smirked.

"…Do you have a secret technique?" Gengetsu asked curiously. "Oh, oh! Is it a forbidden magic? A reality-warping skill? Can it rend dreams asunder?"

"Maybe!" Yuuka replied teasingly. "But I'd rather not waste them on you~!"

Gengetsu looked mildly surprised. "Eh? But remember when I showed you those nightmarish scenes? I thought you wanted to kill me!"

Yuuka smiled sweetly. "Yet."

"'Yet'?"

"I want to drag out your pain and despair." Yuuka elaborated conversationally. "I will make you beg for death before I even get _creative_ with my punishments. Then, I'll turn you into my personal little toy, with no will of your own. You will become a thing, which I may dispose of at a second's notice."With dramatic flair, Yuuka raised her umbrella, and pointed it towards Gengetsu. "And you're getting the _lenient_ sentence! If your sister has truly harmed my servants, she'll beg for your treatment!"

Gengetsu was silent, staring at the flower youkai below with that open-mouthed smile of hers. She had completely frozen as this threat was taken in, and then Gengetsu began to cheer and whoop.

"Yes! Yes! Yes yes yes!" She cried, twirling and dancing maniacally. "That's what I wanna hear! Genuine threats! Malice! The pure sadistic madness!"

Ending her celebrations, Gengetsu sropped to Yuuka's level, an excited glint in her eyes. "Tell me Yuyu, do you think you can scare the goddess of nightmares?"

Yuuka merely scoffed. "A goddess, now? How pretentious."

Swinging her umbrella, a powerful bolt of magic suddenly ripped through the air, barely avoided by Gengetsu.

As the demon leapt to the side, Yuuka rushed forward, swinging a hand towards the demon. Latching onto Gengetsu's face, the flower youkai proceeded to continually smash her head onto the floor, erasing entire chunks of it with each strike.

After a dozen or so strikes like that, Yuuka gathered magic into her hand, searing Gengetsu's unprotected strength with the strength of her magic. Gengetsu didn't make any screams of pain throughout this, but Yuuka had come to expect that.

"Dead yet?" Yuuka asked the burning demon, and opted to throw her into the air instead of waiting for an answer. As Gengetsu began to fall back downward limply, Yuuka stepped to the side, gripped her umbrella in both hands, and raised it over her shoulder, taking aim.

Once Gengetsu had fallen far enough, Yuuka swung.

Colliding heavily the body, Yuuka sent it sprawling towards the huge walls that had sprung up in the distance earlier with a resounding thud. With the way Gengetsu flailed wildly, one would think she was dead. Well… Yuuka knew better than to think that of someone who could actually inflict damage to her. It was far more likely that Gengetsu hadn't even felt a thing, and was merely playing along.

…Well, Yuuka would change that attitude soon enough, but for now, she really should make sure Elly and Kurumi were okay. Probably behind that giant wall… maybe fooling around with Gengetsu hadn't been a smart idea…

Yuuka flew for the towering, white wall in the distance, taking note of whatever injuries she had. It looked like the worst injury she'd sustained was the sword through the chest, but the wound was already closing up nicely… yeah, looked like Gengetsu hadn't made any lasting injuries-

"Open your eyes!" someone screamed from below, and Yuuka immediately halted her flight and jumped back, barely avoiding the thing that flew upwards.

The winged demon had returned, an aurora of energy fading from her body as she recovered from the uppercut. She smiled as cheerfully as ever.

"Aw, I missed! And you looked like you were spaced out, Yuyu!"

"…Could have sworn I knocked you further than that." Yuuka sighed. This really was a bother… under other circumstances, Yuuka might have enjoyed a little brawl with this demon, but seeing as she not only threatened her servant's lives, but was actively preventing Yuuka from saving those same lives… well, it was hard to really enjoy herself here.

"Ahahaha~!" Gengetsu's laugh bellowed across the realm, hands on hips as her back arched. "You have to try harder, Yuyu! I'm nigh invulnerable in this place! If you wanna save your little girls, you have to become a demon and fight me like one!"

Yuuka narrowed her crimson eyes. "You think you can handle something like that, Gengetsu?"

"Can't see why I can't~!" the demon replied cheerfully. She glanced at Yuuka with those wide eyes of hers. "Besides, if you don't fight your very best, Mumu's gonna get your servants and…oh, who knows what she'll do? Eat them? Torture them? Cripple? Maim? Eradicate? Make them her toys? Pets? Furniture? Of, the possibilities!"

Yuuka didn't reply for several moments, as she felt that if she opened her mouth to reply, all she could yell would be incoherent rage. Gengetsu as trying to stir her emotions, make her act stupidly - or in her words, 'demonic'.

"That's a rather disproportionate retribution for the three of us merely setting foot here." Yuuka finally noted with a cold voice. "And what, exactly, did those two do to warrant such acts?"

"They pissed off Mumu! Didn't I mention that before?" Gengetsu pointed out with a tilt of her head. "They made her angry, so they'll suffer for it! Your punishment can be handled my me!"

Yuuka, again, was silent as she glared at the demon. So that's how it was, huh…? These sisters were quite possibly even more insane than Yuuka herself. Huh, what were the odds? And now that Yuuka had went and underestimated them, Elly and Kurumi were…

"Release those two." Yuuka demanded. "Whatever punishments your sister wants to administer, she can try and inflict them upon me instead! Those two are innocent!"

Again, Gengetsu laughed, but this was far more derogatory than random happiness. It was… mocking, full of contempt.

"So now the monster thinks it is a mother!" Gengetsu scoffed cheerfully. "Running to protect its younglings~! Well, that's both sweet and disappointing! Yuyu, if you settle down with a couple'a kids, will you stop creating nightmares for me to distribute? Will you become a… a… a boring little woman who does nothing but watch her children play in peace?"

"…That… doesn't sound like a bad life." Yuuka smirked. "I don't know when or why I started caring about those little scamps, but I do. And now I'm gonna have to go all Mama Bear on your demonic asses."

Yuuka's eyes flashed a brilliant red as her smirk become a stretched, foreboding grin. "Oh, but don't you worry, _Gengen. _I'll show you a nightmare. A nightmare that will snap your mind back to sanity. Will that satisfy you?"

Gengetsu's eyes filled with tears of joy. "You… you called me 'Gengen'! You really do like me!"

Moved by Yuuka's oh-so-affectionate nickname, Gengetsu sighed blissfully, holding her hands to her chest. "Oh, Yuyu, I knew you liked me! We just click so well, y'know? Ah~ I didn't think I could love anyone other than Mumu~! Do you think we'll get married?"

"In your dreams."

"Then we're already married!" Gengetsu cheered. "Let's go for our honeymoon! I know just the place!"

And suddenly the two were in some form of apocalyptic land. Smoke completely blotted out the sky, hiding the scorched and razed earth from the view of the sun. It was clear no life existed in this scenario. Well, aside from Yuuka and Gengetsu.

"…Is this your idea of a honeymoon?" Yuuka asked with a raised eyebrow? Sunbathing during the world's dying throes?"

"Ahaha~ No, no!" Gengetsu chuckled. "I just thought this was a suitable battlefield to express our love! Each blow will carry the feelings in our heart and let them be known!"

Yuuka rolled her eyes and sighed. So on top of everything else, Gengetsu had spontaneously decided to fall in love. Yuuka could not recall ever meeting anyone so troublesome… well, she really would have to try and make this quick; she'd messed around too much already…

* * *

…Kurumi found this situation rather awkward.

Following the dejected-looking servant just ahead, the vampire didn't need a second guess to determine why Elly seemed so down now. But… couldn't she just shrug it off, already? She was taking Mugetsu's words way too close to heart, and as much as Kurumi disliked the annoying, selfish, bratty child of a servant, the blonde vampire found she hated Depressed Elly just a bit more.

…Only because it was less funny, though. No other reasons whatsoever.

Things had been relatively quiet since that near-death trap in the maze. All they'd really seen was a ball of floating light, but they'd backed off and tried to circle around it with an alternate route. Granted, they'd probably end up going in the complete opposite direction because of all these nonsensical twists and turns, but it was better than dealing with that demon's traps.

…_Damn it, stop being so damn sulky! _Kurumi mentally screamed at Elly's back. At this rate, the vampire would have to pick a fight with her, just to get back into a familiar environment. But then some stupid illusion thing would probably sneak up during their argument and try to mind-game them into a full-scare war against each other. And if Mugetsu was watching their every move somehow… ugh, Kurumi was going to swear off paying back debts from now on. She might as well be exchanging the method of her death!

But still, Elly had to be told something… she couldn't have a depressed ally leading her to hopeful safety, because… well, Kurumi had no faith Elly could manage that in her current state of mind. Ugh, stupid, weak-minded, silly, weak… stupid girl.

While Kurumi struggled to find the right words to say, the path they walked led to a more open, room-like area. Cautiously, the approached, seeing nothing that could jump at them in any second.

"…Should we pass through?" Kurumi eventually asked, stopping at the 'entrance' to this wider path way. Just up ahead, the path seem to return to the normal width, making this particular area seem… important, somehow. Kurumi could just tell Mugetsu was planning on _something_. But what?

Elly merely gave the area a sweeping glance and continued onward, muttering, "It's either that or wander aimlessly until we see a normal corridor. Let's just go."

Reluctantly, Kurumi followed. And immediately regretted it.

As soon as the two had moved towards the centre of the wider hallway, the exits were immediately sealed with more indestructible walls. Stopping in surprise, the servant and the vampire glanced at the walls, hoping to find something that would let them leave.

"…Son of a _bitch_!" Kurumi growled, gripping the sides of her head tightly. "I just _knew_ something like this would happen! God-freakin'-damn it!"

Elly, for her part, didn't seem to be breaking down, though her gaze had become icy as she surveyed their prison. She briefly considered the futile notion of trying to break down the walls.

And then that chillingly familiar laughter filled the maze.

"Feeling scared yet?" Mugetsu taunted them. "Well, not to worry, to escape you just have to do a simple act! Now… which one to do it…"

"…Not liking the sound of this…" Kurumi muttered, lowering her hands. Knowing her luck, Mugetsu was going to make them act like best friends or something equally sadistic and cruel.

"Hm… cowardly vampire! You can do it!" Mugetsu decided, and Kurumi snapped her eyes pward, as if she would find the demonic maid there.

"Cowardly?"

A giggle. "Yep, coward! Your friend might be a weak little dumb ass, but at least she was willing to fight me! But that's beside the point…"

Before the two girls, there was a flash of bright light. They leaped back, ready to attack whatever had appeared, but what they saw was rather surprising.

"…Me?" Elly asked warily, seeing her double staring blankly in their direction.

"Uh-huh. This is a really simple one." Mugetsu explained with a hint of excitement. "Vamps over there just has to kill it."

The pair was silent, exchanging confused glances. "…Come again? I'm doing what?"

"Killing it!" Mugetsu repeated excitedly. "I noticed that you two don't seem like the best of friends, so I thought I'd be nice and give ya an outlet! Just kill the doll, it won't fight back!"

Kurumi opened and closed her mouth in surprise, trying to form words. Nothing came. Mugetsu seemed to have fallen silent for now, as well. The real Elly stared at her lifeless copy, simply standing there and watching them blankly.

"…The hell is she thinking?" Kurumi wondered aloud. "W-what's she trying to do?"

Elly didn't answer, merely watching her ally with eyes as lifeless as the dolls. Hands balled into fists, Kurumi's expression became more and more disgusted, the pieces falling into place.

"I can't believe this… that's what she's doing…" Kurumi growled. "That… evil… sick… Hey! Mugetsu! I'm gonna do it, ya hear!"

No reply. The vampire wondered if Mugetsu was ignoring her, just to see them squirm a bit more.

"…Why won't you?" Elly asked curiously. "It's our way out. It should be easy."

Kurumi shook her head, turning her back on the lifeless Elly copy. "No… it's all a mind game. Again. I know exactly what that insane freak wants."

The servant titled her head.

"Can't you see it?" Kurumi asked in exasperation. "She knows what we're like! Mugetsu wants to exploit that! If I kill your clone right now, what would that make you think?"

"…Nothing." Elly replied. The vampire groaned.

"Don't give me that! I know what you'd think!" The vampire glanced at the clone once more, her expression dark. "You'll start to think that if I can kill something that looks exactly like you without a second's thought, I can do the same to you! You won't trust me! Then the fights escalate and we kill each other long before we ever get the hell out of here!"

Elly looked surprised at this explanation, as if she hadn't thought that far. And… well, she hadn't. She was too busy trying to return to her master's side to worry about implications at the moment. But… what Kurumi said made sense. Elly _was _likely to begin thinking like that… but…

"Well… just kill it." Elly stated. "It's only so we can escape, anyway…"

"…Don't want to." Kurumi huffed, walking to the wall that' sealed the way they came and leaned against it. "I'm not playing into that demon's hands!"

Elly sighed, turning to face her clone. "Then I'll do it."

"That opens up a whole new avenue of implications, never mind what Mugetsu might do." Kurumi groaned. "She wanted _me_ to do it. If you do it, I bet she'll flood the place with lava or something…"

Elly bit her lower lip, wondering if angering Mugetsu was a risk worth taking. In the end, she decided it was just too risky, and with a defeated sigh, shuffled to Kurumi's side, where she simply slipped to the ground.

"…So we're stuck here?" Elly asked in deadpan.

"Only until we think of something…" Kurumi sighed, joining Elly on the ground. In any other situation, being stuck with Elly in a locked room - two of them, at that! - would've been akin to mental torture. Now, however, she had two lifeless idiots with no real chance of arguing to while away the time. Joy.

In addition, to make matters worse, their only real chance of getting out alive was busy doing… uh… something. Where the hell was Yuuka? If Mugetsu was busy screwing around with them here, then… what was Yuuka blowing up earlier?

_Oh, god there is two of her…_ Kurumi realised in horror. If she wasn't so busy being so frightened at the chance of their survival, she'd be busy raging at the reason they had even come here.

* * *

**Ah, finally, the next chapter. Hopefully Gengetsu should seem less Flandre-like, now that she's showing her true depravity a little bit more.**

**I imagine this should take another chapter or two to finish, depending on how long some scenes go, as well as what else may end up added/cut. Fairly short story overall, maybe, but still better than forcing it all into a one-shot thing, I guess. Hope y'all enjoy.**

**Oh, as for Touhou Hearts... well, I'd love to finish it, but issues with my own writing have kind of stalled it, sorry.**


	3. 03 - Despair

Usually, when Yuuka Kazami punched something, it didn't shatter so much as disintegrate. Rocks, diamonds, maybe even concepts if the flower youkai felt like it. So she really had to give Gengetsu credit; that demon's skull was fairly tough.

Sent flying by her strike, Yuuka raised a hand and snapped her fingers. From the dying earth below, a vine suddenly erupted from the ground, latching onto the flying Gengetsu's ankle and sharply halting the demon's trajectory.

Giving her no time to recover from the sudden stop of her motion, the vine retracted at frightening speed, slamming Gengetsu to the ground with a sickening crack.

Yuuka was already above the grounded demon, umbrella pointed at her prone figure. Power pulsed throughout the youkai's body, converging to the tip of her weapon of choice, and a grin adorned her slightly bloodied face.

The power was released as a wave of pressure, causing the ground around Gengetsu to crack and distort, and hopefully crush Gengetsu herself.

The pressure had caused the demon to be practically buried in the distorted terrain, and Yuuka turned her sights to the horizon, sighing when it became obvious that the landscape her opponent had created not only hid the walls containing her servants from view, but the fact it was still up meant Gengetsu was still very conscious.

"So what's your next move…" Yuuka muttered, facing the ground once more. The flower youkai had come to expect by now that the demon would laugh off the attacks thrown at her, make a playful comment or two, and then begin the next bout. It was a shame that pest was preventing Yuuka from reaching Elly and Kurumi, otherwise Yuuka would have been more than happy to play along.

The ground rumbled once more, and the flower youkai tensed, ready to defend herself from Gengetsu's next attack. Watching warily, Yuuka tried to anticipate exactly what would be thrown at her.

A serpent made from the vine she had used a moment ago was fairly clever, Yuuka thought.

With a roar that couldn't possibly be produced from such a thing, the vine serpent exploded from the ground, it's length and width almost maddeningly large. It rose towards the sky, rocketing past Yuuka and simply kept on going.

Well, whatever Gengetsu planned to do with it, Yuuka didn't care. With a casual swing of her umbrella, she sliced at it, a shockwave from her powerful swing severing the body. At least, it was supposed to. Instead of doing anything resembling damage, the serpent instead immediately moved to coil around Yuuka and crush her tightly.

With a slight groan, Yuuka tried to break free, but the serpent proved surprisingly difficult to overpower. The hell?

Giggling cheerfully, Gengetsu floated upwards, beaming at the trapped flower youkai. Sitting at a stop in front of Yuuka's face, the demon crossed her legs and said conversationally, "D'ya like it? We can make it our little pet! You like plants, right? This really suits you, Yuyu!"

"You're too kind." Yuuka replied neutrally. "Just one problem."

"Eh?"

Yuuka bared her teeth and buried them in the serpent's body. Managing to break through, Gengetsu could only watch in slight, head-tilted wonder as Yuuka appeared to be eating the thing.

"…Yuyu, you don't eat pets. You pet them!" Gengetsu pointed out helpfully. "Should I show you?"

"No need, I'm done." Yuuka replied with a grin.

Then the serpent exploded in a sea of petals.

Well, more like flowers rapidly erupted along its entire body. Colours clashing as completely random species appeared, the serpent was practically transformed from the inside out. With its body weakening, Yuuka had no trouble escaping her bonds.

Looking very impressed, Gengetsu studied Yuuka's handiwork with her ever-present smile. "Oh, Yuyu, it looks wonderful! We should have a garden like this! And a bedroom with a balcony that overlooks the entire thing! Let's have an orchard in our garden! Oh, oh! Can we occasionally make l-"

Gengetsu's excited rambling was cut short when Yuuka pressed the tip of her umbrella to Gengetsu's forehead. With a cold, crimson glare, Yuuka merely replied "No" and blasted the demon away.

Seeing the winged demon sail away from the now falling flower-serpent, Yuuka glanced at the landscape once more. She really needed to make Gengetsu drop this stupid illusion right now. Otherwise, she'd never find Elly and Kurumi in time.

The flower youkai immediately flew towards the falling Gengetsu. One way or another, she was going to make that psychotic monster obey her!

Pressing her offence before Gengetsu could recover, Yuuka gripped the demon's skull tightly with her free hand, then introduced Gengetsu's face to her knee. Repeatedly. Rapidly descending in the meantime, the flower youkai didn't stop until impact with the scorched ground was a split-second away. At that point, she angled Gengetsu's body, using her as a makeshift shield to crash through the ground, added one more strike to the face with her knee, and threw the beaten demon away, umbrella aimed at her quickly-receding figure.

Gengetsu was powerful. That was as obvious as stating water was a liquid. If you were to compare any random youkai with a demon, there honestly wasn't any kind of difference in power between the two. It all came down to the individual's own strength.

In Yuuka's long life, she had met only a handful of others that could match her frightening level of power. As she grew in strength, that number fluctuated wildly, but currently, her only equals were once more numbered as a handful.

What did this mean? Well, it was quite simple. Creatures like Yuuka Kazami had a tendency to bring or attract trouble. Sooner or later, no matter how powerful you were, unfavourable - or downright disastrous - situations had a habit of cropping up. Without a trump card, one tended to be horribly screwed.

And that trump card was Yuuka's way of ending the battle immediately and saving her servants before that Mugetsu girl did something she would end up regretting.

Raw power began to converge at the tip of her umbrella, radiating an immense light and aura as it rapidly grew in size and intensity. Power seemed to pulse from Yuuka as she poured strength into her next attack. It was not often she resorted to this attack, never mind upping its destructive potential to such an extent, but damn it, Gengetsu had earned the right to be atomised.

Speaking of that bothersome demon, she had managed to recover and was making her way back, the only change to Gengetsu's expression being the splattered blood from her rather damaged nose. Well, at least Yuuka had managed to break something…

With the winged demon quickly closing the distance once more, Yuuka remained motionless, simply pouring more power into her umbrella, which pulsed with the intent of destruction. Closer and closer Gengetsu came, her expression the epitome of manic joy, as usual. The flower youkai was focused, mentally calculating the correct time to unleash death.

Gengetsu was mere milliseconds away from colliding with Yuuka when she suddenly changed direction, paying no heed to such trivial details like momentum. Yuuka had also moved at that time, back-stepping swiftly and twisting her body to avoid the demon's sudden lashing out with her limbs from directly above.

Landing neatly on the dead earth, Gengetsu attempted to kick the green-haired youkai with a powerful swing of her leg, only to hit air as Yuuka had moved once more, moving her body to Gengetsu's unprotected side. However, instead of unleashing her stored magic then and there, the flower youkai instead opted to punch her opponent's face.

As it turned out, Gengetsu had been expecting an attack. Casually blocking the punch with her own hand, Gengetsu cheerfully turned her body to face Yuuka properly, squeezing Yuuka's fist with her impossibly powerful grip.

Just as she opened her mouth to comment, however, Yuuka merely brought her forehead forward, crashing it into the demon's bloody and damaged face, which only increased the intensity of the descriptors.

Reeling from the hit, Gengetsu was unable to recover in time before Yuuka swept her off of the ground, and with a display of strength reserved only for the strongest of titans, the flower youkai forced her crushed fist - still trapped in Gengetsu's own hand - to collide with the white demon's face and instantly plant her own the ground.

While no cries of pain, distress or even mild discomfort were heard, Yuuka knew she was hurting Gengetsu. After all, as strong as she was, Yuuka and Gengetsu possessed similar levels of strength, and if Yuuka herself was feeling less than optimal, even this frightening force had to have noticed her injuries. And if she was still somehow oblivious…

Maybe the umbrella tip planted firmly on her stomach would fix that.

With a little push, the tip entered surprisingly yielding flesh - given Gengetsu's resilience, one would assume her body had substance equal to a diamond. Gengetsu gave a small grunt as her stomach was pierced, staring at Yuuka with wide… strangely disappointed eyes.

"…Yuyu, it's my first time, shouldn't you put that in my-"

"For once, I'm going to refrain from uttering a reply dripping with innuendo," Yuuka interrupted coldly. "Because I've screwed around with you for far too long."

The pulsing in Yuuka's umbrella seemed to hit critical mass, blindingly-hot power rushing forth in a massive wave of power. Feeling this, Gengetsu instantly realised - she just might feel this.

"Master Spark."

The resulting explosion seemed to rock the entire realm as It was consumed by sheer white. Occasionally, green and yellow briefly flashed, but this minor note went unnoticed by the utterly consumed Gengetsu and its uncaring caster.

For an unknown length of time, the beam continued its rampage, vaporising all it came across. For sure, Gengetsu was not going to be feeling well once it was over. This spell, developed in some contest of strength countless centuries ago, had never failed to prove who was the superior youkai in any situation, and there was no way in hell it would fail its caster when there were two sweet little girls that really needed a monster on their side of the playing field.

Finally, the roaring force of obliteration came to an end, the bright beam gradually becoming shorter and dimmer. When all traces of the spell vanished, all that remained was a very sizable hole on the blue-tiled floor.

...Blue-tiled floor?

It seemed that the illusion Gengetsu had produced was finally gone, the dead landscape replaced with... space and blue. Well, good. That confirmed Gengetsu was either very dead or very broke. Whichever one she was listed under didn't matter at this second, as long as that demon was no longer an obstacle...

Turning, the panting flower youkai gazed upon the insurmountable wall that hid her servants away behind it. Well, all Yuuka had to do now was huff and puff... then blow the everlasting hell out of the wall, Mumaidsu and Gengetsu's corpse. And after a little bit of rest, get started on building a nice little home and lay out a foundation for the garden! Yuuka could already envision sitting on the porch, sipping Elly's tea while Kurumi hid away from the sun under an umbrella...

With a slight wobble to her step, Yuuka walked towards the wall. She frowned slightly, wondering if she should have tried reserving a tiny bit of strength... as she was now, even that demon maid would manage to put up some form of resistance. But if Yuuka had held back even a fraction, Gengetsu would have survived for sure... the flower youkai made a mental note to make sure no powerful adversaries lurked in residences of interest. Then she could keep the young ones out of the way and not waste her time worrying instead of erasing.

When she reached the wall, Yuuka placed a hand upon it, her frown deepening slightly. She could already tell this was a formidable wall. And as she was now, Yuuka would need to really exert herself to punch it down. That was incredibly troublesome... but given how close she was to her goal, it was a problem Yuuka had no problem removing.

Gripping her umbrella tightly, the green-haired and rather bloody monster took a step back, forcing her weary body to produce more power, even if only just a little. As expected, she was having some difficulty in findng spare energy, but Yuuka was not allowing hersef to falter or fail. If her body wanted to rest, it was going to have to work overtime for that priviledge.

When Yuuka felt that she had summoned enough strength to at least do decent damage, she raised her umbrella, expression fierce as she begun to swing.

Then Yuuka realised she was in a lot of trouble.

Feeling a rush of power approach from behind, the flower youkai tried to swing her body around, use her umbrella to block the attack. But her reaction time was just a fraction of a second too slow. Yuuka was blown back into the sturdy wall by an all too familiar beam of light. It may have been smaller. It may have been weaker. But there was no doubt as to what it was. And the flower youkai felt a lurch of horror when her mind jumped at the most likely culprit.

Flattened against the wall, now sporting slight cracks from the impact, Yuuka had barely begun to slip towards the ground when a horrifically damaged Gengetsu pressed her back against the slightly damaged wall.

Gengetsu was, quite obviously, a mess. Her white clothing was shredded and stained with blood, which still flowed freely from small cuts inflicted by the Master Spark. Her wings were torn and frayed, now resembling random objects glued together into a grotesque figure. Just about the only thing that remained (relatively) unharmed was that dissonant, eerie smile the crazed demon never once dropped.

"How was it, Yuyu?!" Gengetsu chirped excitedly. "It was my first try, but I think I imitated it really good! All I had to do was know that your love and support would give me the stength to produce it!"

Yuuka stared in wide-eyed horror.

"It was a really awesome spell, too! I think my insides have been completely vaporised! I'm gonna call it the 'Love Spark'!" Gengetsu contined, her cheerfulness completely at odds with the building rage and disbelief within the flower youkai.

"Oh, right, by the way, I think I won!" Gengetsu said. "You seem to be in worse shape than me! Sure, I'm only alive because I don't wanna die, but you're running on empty, right? Good game! Can we get married now?"

"Die."

Gengetsu tilted her head. "What was that? Was that a 'yes', 'hell yes' or 'ravish me now'? I wasn't paying att-"

"Just _**die**_!" Yuuka screamed, animalistic rage erasing all rational thoughts from her mind. She lashed out wildly, hoping to break that interfering demon into tiny pieces once and for all. She had to die now! Elly and Kurumi were right there! She refused to let this stupid creature prevent her from saving them!

Regardless of her desperation, however, her attempts were for naught. With disturbing ease, Gengetsu released Yuuka's shoulders to tightly grip Yuuka's flailing wrists instead. Taken aback by this, Yuuka froze as the white demon leaned closer, her words bearing a sudden shift in tone... making the smiling demon sound serious and mature.

"You lost, Yuuka Kazami. Accept it." Gengetsu said softly. "You fought well, and very nearly succeeded. Please don't continue to fight, it's gotten to the point where I have to worry for your well-being."

Yuuka gritted her teeth, scarlet eyes displaying unseen levels of fury and hatred.

"You're worried about your servants, aren't you?" Gengetsu's smile grew wider. "...Mumu will punish them as she sees fit. They attempted to harm her, so it will no doubt be severe. But you can replace them if they end up dying, right? It should be no trouble for you, after all!"

The flower youkai's gaze intensified. "...You're not a family person, are you?"

This actually seemed to surprise Gengetsu, her tone shifting back to its usual cheerful, unhinged and playful nature. "Eh? Of course I am! I love Mumu with all my heart! She's my precious little sister!"

Yuuka was silent for a moment as she thought this over. Youkai tended not to have such familial relations. Demons... were more likely to possess them, but still not exactly common. If Gengetsu really did place importance in family... how could that be used?

...Well, that answer was surprisingly simple.

"And... you love me, correct? Or was that merely you playing pretend?"

"That was genuine!" the smiling demon assured Yuuka with wide eyes. "I've fallen so deeply in love with you! We're practically wife and wife already!"

Well, that was a good sign. Kind of.

"So we're family now?" Yuuka enquired.

"Yeah! Well, we'd need to officially marry, but I don't wanna wait that long! Let's just say we _are_ family!"

"Gladly." Yuuka replied with a forced smile. "So, what of our daughters?"

Gengetsu looked confused. "...Yuyu, are you pregnant?"

"No. I'm talking about Elly and Kurumi." Yuuka replied with a hint of impatience. "Are you fine with them getting hurt?"

It was clear the demon was still confused, and she pondered for a moment. A moment too long for Yuuka's liking, but if she was going to try and save those two girls, it would be best to not jeopardise her best hope of skipping to the 'saving' part.

Finally, Gengetsu released Yuuka's wrists and folded her arms. If it weren't for the smile painted on her face, the demon would probably be frowning. "I don't get it, Yuyu! I thought they were servants! And they've been bad girls, so it's only right to punish them!"

"...Perhaps," Yuuka replied cautiously. "But they've done nothing wrong."

"Intrusion! Mumu hates intrusion!" Gengetsu informed brightly.

"Would that charge stick if they were taken here against their will?" Yuuka asked, and Gengetsu sighed thoughtfully.

"...Don't think so!" the winged demon decided eventually. "Well, I wouldn't count it, anyway! But did you really take them here against their will? That's not very motherly of you, Yuyu!"

Yuuka smiled coldly. "I'm aware, I've been a terrible guardian. Being a frightful monster can impact one's judgement."

Gengetsu giggled, her happy laughter completely at odds with the situation. "I know, right? You've always been so good at creating nightmare fuel~! But if you're saying those servants are really your daughters..."

"Yes, yes, I've grown soft." Yuuka sighed. "But if you look at it another way, us getting married means they're your daughters, too. And I'm sure you can't stand them being hurt for something they were forced to do."

There was silence between the two beaten monsters. Yuuka found herself worrying as Gengetsu remained unmoving, as if time had stopped. Maybe it had - maybe Gengetsu was just simulating the feeling for effect, Yuuka wouldn't be surprised at this point.

"...I'm gonna miss Yuyu the Bogeyman." Gengetsu finally sighed, a wistful look in her eyes as the demon's smile... changed. There was barely any movement with her lips, but to Yuuka, it became less dissonant, monstrous and fake. It was a genuine smile of affection.

"But if I can get Yuuka as my beloved bride, I can cope!" Gengetsu continued, suddenly pulling Yuuka into a hug. Yuuka half-heartedly raised an arm to the demon's back as she was squeezed tightly, really wishing Gengetsu would hurry up and let her go.

"And I get two daughters, too~! I'm so happy!" The tattered blonde squealed, releasing Yuuka. "...Ah, I'll have to stop Mumu, won't I? All righty, she'll be somewhere in here!"

Stepping up to the lightly damaged wall, Gengetsu pressed her hand against it. A portion of the wall seemed to collapse into the ground with no resistance at all. Yuuka stared.

"Oh, don't worry, I didn't show off omega-ultra-super-broken strength!" Gengetau assured the flower youkai cheerfully. "I just know how to manipulate Mumu's conjurations!"

"...Lovely. Now, can we please hurry?" Yuuka replied. "I'm a little worried those two might be dying."

"Nah, Mumu likes to drag things out, we'll have plenty of time!" Gengetsu giggled, stepping inside the maze and glancing left and right. "...Might be quicker to just take a straight path to the centre!"

Repressing the comment Yuuka wanted to make regarding the girls' safety, Yuuka merely followed. True, Mugetsu would be a problem... but Elly and Kurumi weren't exactly best friends. Sure, Kurumi was probably grateful to Elly for their timely interference that one time, but the chances of them working together seemed unlikely...

_...Guess I'll just have to try believing in them. See what happens. _Yuuka thought. They weren't stupid, after all. Mugetsu was too a big a threat for those two to bicker any more, right?

* * *

"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."

"Stupid dumbass."

"…Sure, let's go with that." Elly sighed, arms wrapped around her knees. Beside her, a bored-senseless Kurumi wished her inmate would rise to her bait and argue already - it wasn't like they could do anything else without killing Elly's motionless clone. And while Kurumi wasn't the type to fret over that kind of thing normally, she also wasn't the type that particularly liked having her strings pulled by some insane monster of a puppeteer.

Oh, and she'd been around Yuuka long enough to know that, imitation or not, the flower youkai didn't like having her stuff broke.

Elly herself was more than willing to just off the doll and get going, but Kurumi's strong objections had stayed her hand for now. It was infuriatingly easy, as well. That stupid depressive slump had made Kazami's servant so damn boring!

And the worst part? Kurumi was beginning to realise that she loved the bickering.

Elly shifted slightly, eyes downcast as Kurumi wandered over to her companion's clone. It certainly was a convincing replica, right down to the last curl in her hair. It appeared to be breathing, too, but Kurumi could feel no air being exhaled.

"Can we kill it yet?" the real Elly sighed.

"Still having some doubts about that." Kurumi replied evenly, circling the clone.

"Remind me again, why are we just sitting here? We probably could have escaped by now if we'd just-"

Irritated, the blonde vampire rounded on her depressive ally. "Because like I said, Mugetsu wants me to do that! Don't you think we're bad enough around each other without thinking I'm plotting murder?!"

Elly sighed once more, resting her head upon one hand. "Well, maybe I won't believe that. Can we do it then?"

"It doesn't change the fact we're being screwed with!" Kurumi groaned. "If we go through with it, that demon's just gonna set worse and worse traps! We'll end up dead or insane sooner or later…"

Elly was silent, arms now folded over her chest. She looked contemplative, as if thinking over everything Kurumi said. To be honest, it certainly made sense - Mugetsu was taking quite a bit of delight in messing with their heads, and most definitely wouldn't grant them escape after a relatively small amount of time in her little maze.

"You know… I don't think I mind jumping through her hoops." Elly muttered, and Kurumi stared at her incredulously.

"…Could you repeat that? I think I grossly misheard every word you just said."

Elly climbed to her feet, picking up her scythe as she did. "You heard right. If the only chance we have is to play along, I say play along."

"…This is why I'm the one most likely to act as a strategist in our merry group, Elly," Kurumi pointed out with a strained voice. "Because I don't make moronic decisions like this."

To the vampire's surprise, Elly smirked. Kurumi decided she didn't like that.

"You wanna know the bad thing about strategists? They tend to over think things." Elly said in an almost haughty voice. Sauntering over to her clone's side, the scythe-wielding youkai continued, "Over-analyse and over-plot. Over-everything, really. They exaggerate the flaws in any given movement, believing with more and more certainty that everything around them is some sort of trick or trap."

Kurumi stared blankly.

"Now, someone like me…" Elly was face-to-face with her fake, which still remained motionless, "A tool for my master to use and dispose of as she sees fit… I don't think. I act."

And with that, Elly cut cleanly through the impostor.

There was no blood as her scythe cleaved through its body, splitting it. Kurumi gasped, while Elly merely stared at her destroyed clone for a moment before turning to face Kurumi.

"So, think she'll drown us in lava now?"

Blinking stupidly, Kurumi opened her mouth to reply, but the mind-numbing cackling that emitted decidedly wasn't caused by the blonde vampire.

"Finally done it, eh? Granted, Vamps was supposed to do the deed, but hey, at least someone did!" Mugetsu's unwelcome voice resounded. "I'm gonna go enjoy the implications of this! Well, I suppose you two can go on ahead! Who knows, maybe you'll actually make some progress!"

The two girls waited, but Mugetsu said no more. With a pained sigh, Kurumi muttered, "Y'know, I get the strange feeling she's right about one thing."

"What's that?" Elly asked, shouldering her scythe.

"That you'll get me killed at some point."

Elly snickered at that remark. "Guess that's only fitting. Didn't I save you back then?"

"…Please don't remind me," Kurumi groaned. "I still wish I'd died back then."

"Funny, I seem to recall you showering praise upon me." Elly remarked, continuing onward now that their path had become unblocked.

Kurumi followed after her with a sour expression. "Well, that was before I knew you were an annoying little brat!"

"Well, too bad, I saved your ungrateful behind," Elly commented smugly. "So I guess you'll just have to live with that!"

Grinding her teeth together, Kurumi hurried to catch up, pointing a finger directly between the servant's eyes when she had overtaken Elly. "Well, don't forget I saved you just a little while ago! So now we're even!"

"Uh huh." Elly side-stepped and continued walking. Feeling even more frustrated, Kurumi continued to follow.

The pair were silent for the next few minutes as they tried to traverse the labyrinth. No new surprises had leapt at them yet, and Mugetsu was being silent. It was both a relief… and incredibly unnerving.

In order to break the monotony, Kurumi cleared her throat and asked, "So… what got you all chipper back there?"

"Eh?" Elly glanced at her vampiric companion.

"You know, everything you said and did five minutes ago? You were kind of wallowing in self pity back there."

Elly turned her face away, silent. The vampire waited as patiently as she could for Elly to say something before opening her mouth to ask again, but Elly had finally spoken.

"There's no deep reasoning. I just wanted to get moving."

"So what was the motivator?" Kurumi enquired, clasping her hands behind her head.

"Well… it would be shameful for one of my master's tools to be so easily trapped, wouldn't it?" Elly shrugged.

Kurumi groaned in disgust.

"What?" Elly asked, her voice taking an edge to it. "Something bother you?"

"Yeah. You." The vampire replied. "What's wrong with you?"

Elly stared, her gaze sharp and threatening. Kurumi didn't flinch as she returned her own steely gaze.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your stupid 'I'm a weapon' mentality! What kinda youkai are you?!" Kurumi snapped. "You put no worth on yourself as a person, at all! You're a freakin' idiot that thinks all they're good for is cutting things down! Which is incredibly redundant when your master- sorry, _owner _- is capable of doing a much better job of it than you ever could!"

Elly flinched, taken by surprise at this sudden rant. She recovered momentarily, her grip strengthening on the shaft of her weapon. "Care to repeat that?" she growled.

"What, can you not listen properly without your sadist master telling you to do so?" Kurumi retorted with exasperation. "Fine then, let me put it in a way you can understand; You. Are. An.** Idiot**!"

Lips pressed into a thin line, Elly continued to glare at the riled vampire. Silent fury was evident in the blonde's stance.

"...Am I?" Elly finally muttered. "So I'm an idiot for admiring my master?"

"There's admiration, then there's... you!" Kurumi retorted, throwing her hands to the air. "The way you see herself... it's... it's messed up! Seriously! I can't tell if you're brainwashed or what!"

"Just shut up," Elly growled, forcing herself to turn away from the vampire. "I have my reasons, and they don't concern an outsider."

The vampire snorted at that. "So I'm an 'outsider' now? Way to make me feel welcome. Or do I have to agree to be Kazami's sex toy before I can be equal?"

"Don't insult her." Elly warned, her angry tone becoming cold, carrying a threatening edge to it. "Never speak ill of my master."

"Or what? She'll smother me in my sleep?" Kurumi argued. "Well, fine! Whatever! Better to be killed than to be indebted to a monster and her playthi-"

At that point, Kurumi felt the point of Elly's scythe pressing against the side of her neck. The vampire had barely seen Elly move, and certainly didn't recall the scythe-wielding girl being so fast. Or teary-eyed.

Kurumi had expected anger. That was kind of a given with her tirade, but... crying? That was... well, unexpected.

Mouth wobbling, Elly clenched her eyes shut inn a desperate bid to prevent the tears from flowing. The two girls remained this way for several minutes, the only sounds being Kurumi's panting and Elly's suppressed sobs.

"...I... I don't want to explain." Elly finally muttered, her voice shaking as much as her arms. "Just... please, Kurumi. Don't... don't demonise master like that."

Kurumi was... rather confused by this sudden emotional plea. After all, it was hardly the first time the vampire had mentioned Yuuka was... well a monster among monsters. It was common knowledge. What exactly was so different now?

"...Okay," Kurumi replied cautiously. "Uh... do you mind moving your blade? You're drawing blood."

Silently, Elly lowered her scythe, and Kurumi pressed a finger lightly to the spot of her neck that was pricked by the blade. It was a light wound, something that would be healed momentarily. Nothing to worry about, especially when she had more pressing matters to attend to.

Elly had turned and began wandering off like a lost child, and Kurumi began following. Now that she was calming down from her sudden rant, the vampire felt a tad guilty. The youkai had finally returned to normal, but she just had to go and complain and now Elly was even worse than before. A people person, Kurumi apparently was not.

"...Hey," Kurumi called out hesitantly. "Elly. Uh, look... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have rambled on like that. My bad."

Elly didn't reply.

"Um... I was probably wrong about Yuuka being an evil, murderous sex pest too?" Kurumi ventured.

Elly kept on walking.

"Ah, jeez... look, Elly, I was completely wrong about everything, okay?!" The vampire tried. Not that the statement was entirely genuine, but anything to get Elly out of her second slump would be a great help.

Elly sighed and came to a stop.

"...I'm the one that should apologise. I overreacted."

_I'll say_, Kurumi thought.

"You can say it, you know." Elly continued. "...I still think you're wrong, but I... guess you're right, too."

Kurumi approached Elly, stepping ahead to get a look at the curly-blonde's face. She's managed to hold her tears somehow, but her face still looked thoroughly miserable.

"...I... don't know Kazami as well as you do, right?" Kurumi asked. "I only know the demon that let me tag along on a whim, but there's a reason she kept us both around, right?"

Elly simply shrugged.

"I know she took me with her on a whim," Elly said quietly. "I was... probably nothing to her. Maybe I still am? I mean, it's not like I'm useful to her in any way. She's just... too perfect to need a servant, after all."

Kurumi said nothing.

"But... she gave a reason to live," The scythe-wielding girl continued, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. "She took me in, treated me well, and... and..."

"...You fell in love?" Kurumi asked, trying hard to hold back a grimace. But to her surprise, Elly shook her head.

"No. Well... I do love master. It's just... I see her more like a... well... a... a mother." A faint blush rose on her face as a tear finally rolled down Elly's cheek.

The suprised vampire merely stared for a few moments whle Elly composed herself.

"I know she won't reciprocate that feeling." Elly said wistfully, tenderly holding the scythe in her hands. "But master is important to me. I came to terms that I was nothing a long time ago. I just want to be near her until master finally grows bored with me."

"...I really can't understand you at all," Kurumi sighed, placing the palm of her hand on her forehead. "Well, let me just break it down into something less complex. You love Yuuka, right?"

Elly nodded.

"Then we're gonna go tell her that." Kurumi announced. Taking Elly's hand in her own, the vampire began marching through the maze once more, dratging a stunned Elly behind her.

"W-we're gonna what?!"

"Say you love Kazami. That she's your precious mama. That you want to be her beloved little daughter."

The blush on Elly's face intensified.

"N-n-no way! Sh-she'd laugh at me!"

"And that'd be my cue to kick her ass." Kurumi replied. "Look, just admit it to her!"

"Yeah, go on! Pour your feelings into the heartfelt confession!" Mugetsu's most unwelcome voice boomed suddenly, stopping both girls in their tracks. "Personally, I'd _love_ to see Kazami laugh and reject you! Then she'd go and find a servant that isn't a weak little mess of a being!"

_Oh for the love of god, shut the fuck up... _Kurumi mentally begged the unseen tormentor. The blonde vampire simply wanted to get out of this alive with a not-depressed Elly. Why was that so damn wrong?

Elly herself had stopped, her expression now unreadable as she stared at the ground. When Kurumi glanced over ehr shoulder, a worried looked crossed her face. If Mugetsu had gotten to her...

"Hey, Mugetsu." Elly suddenly spoke up, turning her gaze to the ceiling."

"Hm?"

"When we find you, should I present you to my master, or be merciful and kill you myself?"

A stunned silence followed that bold threat. Kurumi and - presumably - Mugetsu were at a complete loss for words, and Elly simply smirked, raising the brim of her hat.

"So you believe master will laugh at me? Well, so do I! And I don't care if she does, because I realised something just now."

_You're insane?_ Kurumi guessed. She had to be, if Elly thought talking back to Mugetsu like this was going to increase their chances of survival. Then again, it wasn't like they had a list of options.

"...Did you now." Mugetsu stated coldly. "And what would that be?"

"That I'm master's favourite tool," Elly replied with pride. "And I don't mean for cutting things down or defeating her enemies! Master always says she loves my cooking! She appreciates my taking care of her! And she hates to see my wallow in despair and self-pity!"

_So you're basically a maid_. Kurumi pointed out mentally.

"Uh huh. That's heart warming and everything, but favourites can be changed," Mugetsu countered, and the girls couldn't help but imagine her shrugging in contempt as she spoke. "So if her favourite toy breaks here? Maybe she'll just decide Vamps over there is the 'in' thing this season!"

Elly merely scoffed at this as she turned her smirk to Kurumi. "Is that right?"

"...Elly, if you've snapped and plan to kill me here, I swear to the closest god, I will destroy you from beyond the grave." The worried vampire warned, trying not to look intimidated.

Chuckling, the servant shook her head. "No, don't worry about that, it's just... you? Master's favourite? Please, as if I'd ever lose to you!"

"...Well, uh, nice to know you won't kill me, but you haven't convinced me you're sane, yet." Kurumi stated nervously.

"Hey, Mugetsu!" Elly called out. "I've just thought up a better game!"

Mugetsu didn't respond, but Elly pressed on regardless, knowing she was listening.

"Why don't we have a little battle?" Elly continued, ignoring Kurumi's horrified groan. "If we win, we go free!"

"...Why bother? It's not like you have a snowball's chance in hell." Mugetsu sighed condescendingly. "Besides, I'm having way too much fun watching you little rats stumble around blindly."

Elly sighed as well, shaking her head. "Right, forgot you were a coward."

Kurumi decided that her forehead needed a new friend. Luckily, there was a nice looking wall to her side that looked like it needed a new friend.

"...Ballsy, aren't you?" Mugetsu chuckled, her voice sharp ebnough to eviscerate the object of her ire. "Me? A coward? Ohohoho... that's quite an insult, there. Tell me, why are you so confident in your victory? Especially after I beat the everloving shit out of you?"

The servant glanced at the wall-banging vampire for a moment before replying. "I changed my reason to fight a little. That's all."

"Oh, well I'm fucked _now!_" The demon maid cried out in mock horror. "Oh, Gengen, won't you please come to my aid? I fear the little reaper will drag me to hell!"

Following her derogatory comments with derisive laughter, Elly simply waited for the response she was waiting for, a confident smile on her face. Kurumi meanwhile, had decided that Wall was a bad influence for Forehead, and simply leaned her back against it, wings flattened, and sink to the floor.

"Ahaha... oh god, you'r hilarious." Mugetsu giggled. "Right... well, okay, fine. You can have your fight. If you pass on more obstacle."

"And that is...?" Elly asked, suspicious.

"Don't get killed."

Raising an eyebrow quizzically, Elly asked for more clarification on that, but got no answer. Not from Mugetsu, anyway.

Instead, Kurumi slowly rose to her feet, staring at something behind Elly. "Hey, uh... did we pass by that glowing ball of light at some point?"

"Eh?" Craning her neck, Elly saw that there was, indeed, a Glowing Ball of Possible Doom floating around. It was still situated at the corner adjoining the previous corridor, and didn't seem to be doing anything... which was unnerving.

"...Think that's here to kill us?" Elly asked, holding her scythe tightly.

"If it is, you know who I'm blaming for that." Kurumi replied with a glower. "Seriously, what the hell's wrong with you? You've been flip-flopping between 'cheerful' and 'suicidally depressed' since we ended up in here!"

"Hope you know who I'm blaming for that," Elly replied, and the vampire was shocked to find that there was no malice, challenge or even pettiness in her voice. Rather... Elly sounded like she was playing around.

"...Um... hey, are you that clone Elly from back in the sealed room? Did you kill the real one by any chance? Because this is not the Elly I know and loathe."

Elly laughed at that. "Yeah... I'll go back to normal once we beat Mugetsu, okay? And whoever the hell Gengen is, I suppose. But for now, I'm sick of being an incompetent little child. I don't want to hold you or myself back any longer."

"Are you sick? Is it terminal?" Kurumi enquired further, growing increasingly concerned.

The scythe-wielding girl pressed on, ignoring Kurumi's half-sarcastic comments. "And when we escape and master makes her residence here, I'll... I'll tell her I want to be like her daughter. And... well... I suppose I can try and tolerate your presence a little better, too."

While Elly returned to a blushing state, Kurumi's mind had come to a dead stop. What Elly had said rent the world asunder and dragged the poor vampire along with it. Remembering what it was they were here for, Kurumi couldn't help but explode.

"You mean we're here because your stupid master wanted a goddamned house?!"

And then the Glowing Ball of Possible Doom flooded the corridor with bullets.

* * *

**Hey guys, remember when I could update a fic within a week? Neither do I!**

**So yeah, I apologise for the wait. I... have no excuse, really. Except maybe getting too caught up with other random activities. Procrastination's a bitch.**

**This was supposed to be the final part, but since it's been... what, seven months? I decided it was best to leave the finale for now and give people something to read. Also, I'm freaking out that this wasn't wasn't worth the wait, so in the worst case scenario... guess I can move onto something else.**

**But anyway, I apologise again, and I'll try and finish up a lot quicker. And as always, hope you enjoy reading my stuff!**


	4. 04 - The Almost Conclusion

"I swear to some random god!" Kurumi growled as she sharply turned the corner, speeding as far away from the pursuer's onslaught as possible with Elly in tow. "If I survive this, I am cutting all ties with you and Kazami!"

Elly, gripping her weapon tightly, quickly spun her body, launching the scythe towards the glowing ball that followed relentlessly. Her sharp tool deflected some of the bullets headed their way, but the light itself was completely unaffected as her weapon sliced clean through it, and then once more as it arced back.

"Because screw being indebted to stupid, crazy dumb-asses who associate and pick fights with colossal monstrosities! Especially when you're not even all that powerful a youkai to begin w-"

Catching her scythe just in time to fly in a new direction - the girls had decided to fly right at the next crossroad - Elly interrupted with a slight grin, "Don't start trying to make fun of my strength, Kurumi! Remind me again, who got beaten up by a human?"

"_Let's see you deal with time-warping!_" The indignant, seething and totally-not-scared vampire screeched. "And that has nothing to do with the fact we're being chased by a... thing!"

Peeking over her shoulder, Kurumi found the magic pellets being fired at them were way, _way_ too close for her comfort. Flapping her wings, Kurumi tried to increase her speed and keep a rather sizeable distance. Of course, if she went much faster, the vampire was liable to simply flatten her face against a wall. Then have her body horribly riddled with bullets and whatever else that light thing could do. And Kurumi was of the opinion that her features were just a _little_ too pretty to ruin.

Elly, while not exactly fretting how she would appear after a little injury, was still concerned about not getting blasted. Mugetsu's mocking challenge still rang in her ears. _Don't die._

Well, Elly certainly didn't plan to. Not before she eliminated that demon and saved her master the trouble of dirtying her hands. Besides, there was a good chance Yuuka was held up by something else. Mugetsu had mentioned someone called 'Gengen'... if those two demons were roughly equal in strength, then...

_Master should have no problem!_ Elly's completely and totally unbiased mind concluded.

Still, whatever troubles the flower youkai was dealing with were irrelevant at the moment. She and Kurumi were still fleeing for dear life, taking random directions and hoping to hell they found an exit Mugetsu forgot to delete or something.

With another twirl, Elly swung her scythe and launched a shock-wave, managing to erase several bullets, but the ball of light was once more completely unaffected. What the hell was that thing, anyway? Some weird, unidentified creature? An advanced spell that launched even more spells?

As the servant pondered, she suddenly found herself tackled by her accomplice. With a cry of surprise, she detached herself from Kurumi, who hurriedly started shoving Elly forward, trying to usher her into flying once more down the new corridor they'd taken.

"Kurumi, what the hell?!" Elly gasped, looking past her and into the corridor they'd left. The ball of light floated past, still firing the bullets forward as it went.

"Go! I don't wanna be here if it can figure out where we are!" Kurumi cried, and Elly finally took flight down their new path. Kurumi followed alongside the scythe-wielding servant, and they both warily advanced.

"...Think we lost it?" Elly asked cautiously.

"I'm not saying yes," Kurumi replied. "Because I just know that when we turn this corner, it'll be right there."

Both girls then came to a sudden stop before said corner, suddenly paranoid. They glanced at each other, then at the floor. Then each other, the ceiling, each other once again, and finally straight ahead.

An awkward silence draped over the area as youkai and vampire tried to work up the nerve to step forward. They both felt incredibly foolish, since that ball would have just advanced if it were behind that corner. And there was no way it could be anyway, right? It wasn't like the path they'd taken just looped right back their previous location. That'd be way too unlikely. And cruel.

_So there's an insanely high chance of things going terribly wrong._ The duo thought.

"...If I'm really gonna die here," Kurumi sighed wearily. "Then that house Kazami wants had better be damn worth it. If it's anything less than a world-sized mansion with several monuments to me, I'm killing all plant life ever."

Elly chuckled weakly, tightening her grip on the scythe. "Have fun with that. Well, anyway... prepare to run in the off-chance there's trouble, okay?"

"Eh? Sure, okay, but what are you planning to do?" Kurumi asked. "Make a last stand? I don't think Bally was feeling any attacks from you, earlier."

Scoffing at her words, Elly merely replied, "I don't plan to die before that demon." And leaped around the corner, her weapon raised in a defensive manner.

...Nothing.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Elly relaxed and began giggling. Kurumi wasn't sure whether or not to take this as a sign of the insanity Elly was most definitely infected with, but since there was a distinct lack of maniacal blood-lust in the servant's voice, she decided not to flee and take her chance with the magical... magic-spewing light ball of magical magic. Thing.

"All clear, huh?" Kurumi stated, cautiously peering around the corner to see a rather long corridor. For some reason, it made her think their destination lay at the end, and it made the vampire want to choose a new route.

"Uh huh." Was Elly's reply, her giggling having subsided. "Really hope this is the last stretch. I'm getting quite tired of Mugetsu hiding away in here somewhere."

"You do know I'm likely to get murdered alongside you, right?" Kurumi sighed. "Please, stop trying to antagonise the person that rules this place."

Elly simply grinned as she glanced at the vampire. "What are you so scared of? We've gotten through everything she's thrown at us, remember?"

"...After _how_ many near-death experiences and bouts of depression?" Kurumi asked, a cold edge to her voice. "Care to explain why you're so confident you'll make it out unscathed?"

Surprisingly, Elly's face began to colour itself with a faint blush, and she hastily turned her face away from the shocked, winged girl

"Oh, right, that whole 'greatest tool ever' thing." Kurumi simply sighed and threw her hands limply to the air. "All right, nice. More power to you."

Elly remained unmoving for a moment, her blush slowly receding from her face. When the servant felt somewhat less flustered by the vampire's question, Elly cleared her throat and said, "So, uh... when we find Mugetsu, what'll you do?"

Kurumi tilted her head, an eyebrow raised. "Whaddaya think? Either cowering in the corner or apologising profusely for associating myself with two crazies."

Elly stared.

"What? I _do_ have survival instincts," Kurumi growled defensively, now blushing herself, albeit much less intensely that Elly had been. "There's nothing wrong with that!"

"Uh, yeah, I know. It's just... you seem a bit too... proud for that." Elly pointed out.

Lowering her gaze to the floor, Kurumi muttered, "Yeah, well... pride's no good to me if I'm dead, y'know? No point flaunting it in places it's not welcome."

Normally, Elly would make a cutting remark about just how welcome her pride usually was, which would then lead to them arguing over who had more pride/what they were willing to throw it away for/grappling each other until Yuuka whacked them both over the head, but given the somewhat abnormal situation, the scythe-wielding girl had decided that, just for once, she could skip that bit and move onto a point to her earlier question.

"All right then. Cower all you want," Elly said with a small smile. "I can beat Mugetsu by myself!"

Crickets chirped. Both girls dismissed this noise as 'Mugetsu' and carried on.

"I'll... ignore the part that sounds suspiciously like mocking," Kurumi said calmly, though her fists were squeezing tightly. "And proceed to state the obvious, as usual; that demon will frickin' _murder_ you!"

"I won't let her." Elly simply stated, her smile vanished, gazing seriously at the startled vampire. Again, a silence washed over them, Kurumi having no idea how to respond and Elly having said her piece already. The cricket noises had ceased, replaced by the sound of gagging.

"So, you two got any more melodrama and mushy bull shit to say?" Mugetsu's disembodied, taunting voice queried. "Because if not, you've still got a game to finish?"

Elly's head immediately snapped upwards. "What?!"

Then something sailed past Kurumi, striking Elly's forehead. With a cry of pain, she fell to the ground, leaving a surprised vampire to quickly turn and identify their new foe.

"...Oh, son of a bitch." Kurumi groaned at the floating ball of light.

Mugetsu giggled. "Yeah, my magic's not exactly easy to shake off, is it? So, how 'bout it, Vamps? Try smashing in your new BFF's skull, and I think I can waive your crimes!"

The vampire froze, eyes wide at the proposal. Was that... a free ticket out of this stupid situation? A pass from possible death/crippling, agonising punishment that made death appealing? That was... very damn tempting, actually.

The pros and cons of this little deal quickly whizzed through her mind, and a second later, one category was definitely bigger than the other.

A dark look passed over Kurumi's expression as she turned towards Elly, who was now sitting up and rubbing her bleeding forehead. Seeing Kurumi advance, she stared questioningly, one hand to her forehead and the other holding the scythe at her side.

"...I really hate you, y'know," Kurumi sighed. "Seriously, look at what you've put me through. And still are."

The vampire held out her hand.

Elly's eyes flickered towards the offered hand, then back at Kurumi's face. "So how do you plan for me to make up for what I put you through?"

"Duh. You'll act as my servant as well as Kazami's," Kurumi stated with a dark smile. "I've always wanted someone like that. Maybe you should wear a maid outfit? And you'll be treating me as if I were the Scarlet Devil herself!"

Elly grinned. "You think I'll put up with something so shameful?"

Kurumi's smile widened. Elly moved her blood-stained hand from her forehead to Kurumi's own hand. Mugetsu tutted rather loudly as the servant was pulled to her feet.

"So you chose the most over-acted way to say 'no'. Did you catch the stupid from Blondilocks?"

"...I have to say yes to that," Kurumi stated, still smiling. "I think I chose suicide over salvation."

Elly chuckled, shaking her head. "Come on, if you betrayed me, Master would've messed you up."

"True. So I chose the lesser of two evils... I hate my associates." Kurumi nodded.

"Boo-hoo. Die now." Mugetsu stated coldly, and the ball of light began firing magic pellets once more.

At that same instant, Kurumi swung her arm as she twisted around to meet the attack. Elly's blood, smeared onto her fingers by the servant's hand, suddenly flew forward and expanded instantaneously into a solid, red wall. The magic bounced off of the shield, but Kurumi figured it wouldn't hold for longer than a few seconds, especially if that thing just kept shooting. Not like it was meant to be a permanent solution.

Immediately, the two girls had sped down the corridor that may or may not lead to Mugetsu. Given it's annoying length, they were only halfway towards the crossroads up ahead when the pursuing light managed to round the corner. At least that meant the bullets would take much longer to reach them. But just to be safe...

"Borrowing this!" Kurumi touched her fingertips to Elly's bloody forehead, ignoring her disdainful wince, and twisted around to face the ball as she retreated. With another swipe of her hand, the blood was formed into a new wall. Again, it wouldn't last long, but Kurumi was perfectly fine with throwing up as many shields as required. She required relatively little blood from others to form them, after all. A lake-full of the stuff would be far more preferable, but she could make-do with an injured youkai just fine.

The duo chose to go left after a split second decision, and kept on flying. Accompanied by the musings of their captor.

"For a weak little rat, that's a slightly inconvenient power to have..." Mugetsu pondered aloud, her voice still radiating with smug authority and power. "Still, I think I have its limit figured out already. Not that it matters, my word is absolute law in my land, after all!"

"That's gotta be a bluff!" Elly observed, glancing at the vampire flying by her side. "She can't know any limitations based on two or three uses, right?!"

Kurumi frowned. "...I'd hope not. But if she has... nah, don't say any more, not taking any chances."

Elly nodded, but Mugetsu only chuckled. "That's told me all I need to know, Vamps. But look on the bright side! You might be as brain-dead as your suicidal pal, but at least you were far more useful than her, all the way to the end! Oh, by the way, heads up."

_What?_ Confused, both girls glanced at each other before facing forwards once more, then immediately forcing their bodies to a halt before the wall became decorated with their face imprints.

Disbelieving, Kurumi floated closer to it, raising a fist to knock it, as if making sure they had definitely come across a dead end. They certainly had.

"Seriously? Seriously?! The one dead end we find, and it's when we're cornered by some un-killable thing!" Kurumi groaned. Maybe if she smashed her forehead against it in frustration hard enough, it would crumble? It was certainly worth a try, right?

"Calm down, we just took a wrong turn!" Elly urged, pulling at Kurumi's arm. "Come on! If we hurry, we might still get to the other path before that magic ball catches up with u-"

A single pellet struck the wall next to Kurumi, and both slowly turned to face said magic ball. Elly suddenly found herself sharing the vampire's sentiments.

"Aw. Nice try, but moronic rats are moronic rats in the end!" Mugetsu soothed mockingly from wherever she hid. "Oh well, good game and all that. So how many holes should I fill your body with? Or better yet, would you like to be presented to Kazami stuffed or skinned? Maybe both?"

Kurumi balled her hands into fists. This... really fricking sucked. Even if she were to throw up a shield of blood, it wouldn't last long. And she had a sneaking suspicion Elly would run out of it long before that thing would even need to reload. The stupid thing couldn't be harmed conventionally, and probably needed monster-level powers to dispel. This was so one-sided it wasn't even funny. Well, except to Mugetsu, maybe.

_Well, still better than getting killed by the hunter I guess._ Kurumi tried to reassure herself. _Or crucified in that stupid ceremony._

Elly simply glared at the glowing light ball fiercely, trying to come up with a plan before they were riddled with holes. This was not the ending Elly was shooting for, and like hell she would simply let herself and Kurumi die like this. Not when the youkai was planning to take Mugetsu down with her...

"What, no answer?" Mugetsu taunted. "Well, I suppose it's a hard choice. All right, let's compromise! I shoot a couple hundred holes in your bodies, then fill you with stuffing! Anyone wanna go first?"

"Okay, we get it, you're evil!" Elly snapped. "Now shut up and wait for me to kick your smug little ass like a good girl!"

No doubt shocking Mugetsu into silence once more, the scythe-wielding girl took advantage. Dragging the palm of one hand along her blade, she sliced her flesh, drawing blood and holding her injured palm to Kurumi.

"Take as much as you need to cage that thing!" The blonde ordered the surprised vampire. When Kurumi made no movements, Elly began shaking her hand urgently. "_Now_, please!"

The vampire blinked, stared dumbly at Elly's hand, and finally registered the instructions given to her. She reached, dabbing her fingertips into the flowing red liquid, and immediately set about her given task.

In just a second, Kurumi had shaped the blood into a perfect sphere around their persistent pursuer, trapping it. It remained suspended in the air, under the vampire's watchful gaze.

With a tug at Kurumi's sleeve, Elly began urging her to move. It was probably a good idea, there was no telling when that thing would break fr-

The sphere exploded in a flurry of bullets as Mugetsu's ball blasted free, which was not good for the girls' morale, really.

Frantically, they weaved and ducked during their escape, barely avoiding the random trajectory of the bullet storm. The enclosed space did little to make this fun or easy for either of them.

Eventually, both noticed an opening between the initial volley of shots and the next salvo headed their way. Their eyes meeting, the servant and vampire came to an unspoken agreement on their next move.

Stretching her bloody hand outwards once more, Elly allowed Kurumi to extract more blood from her injury, which was then hastily constructed into a crimson wall. It wasn't exactly any stronger than paper, but if it stopped the bullets for even a fraction of a second...

Continuing down the seemingly never-ending path, the girls desperately barred their path with wall after wall of borrowed blood. While Kurumi needed relatively little amounts of it to construct barriers, she could still only use so much before it had adverse affects on her donor. A youkai may not collapse from missing a pint or two of blood (well, unless they were hilariously weak), but considering someone of Elly's level, it wouldn't be too long before Elly started misjudging where to dodge.

"God damn it, just go away!" The frustrated vampire screeched, barring the way just as her last wall was torn away by those stupid bullets. "Why in the name of hell are we on a straight path _now_?!"

"Maybe we're close to the end!" Elly replied with gritted teeth. She really wasn't a big fan of throwing so much blood around like this. "Let's just keep on running, forget the bl- crap!"

A bullet had managed to pass the newest obstacle before it could be fully constructed, and it had barely grazed the blonde's head, knocking her hat into the air.

Cursing in frustration, Elly glanced over her shoulder. The most recent wall of blood was already falling. This was just getting ridiculous!

"Jeez, the hell did I do to deserve this?" Kurumi wailed, abandoning her attempts to bar its path and focusing entirely on surviving intact. "The hell did I do to deserve anything that's _ever_ happened to me?!"

"Ah, fine then!" Elly growled, performing an aerial flip and coming to a stop as she faced the advancing ball of light. Kurumi braked and swiveled a moment later, looking incredulous.

"What the hell are you doing this time?!" The vampire yelled. "Come on, I'm not handing your hole-ridden corpse to Kazami!"

Ignoring her, Elly brandished her scythe, trying to think of something, anything she could do to dispel that thing. Attacking normally didn't work, and her own magic didn't seem to be strong enough to overpower it...

She noted then that it wasn't even shooting any more. Glaring suspiciously at the still-advancing light, she wondered what it was trying to do. Fake her out? Nah, it wasn't an intelligent being... out of ammo? Did it even have a maximum capacity to use up?

Kurumi was tugging at the back of her dress urgently. "Come on, it's getting closer!" The vampire growled, but Elly still didn't budge.

Finally, when it was a mere three feet away... it stopped, simply bobbing there harmlessly. Both girls were confused even more by this behavior. It was almost as if the thing had lost interest or something.

"...Maybe it ran out of magic to function?" Kurumi wondered aloud, peeking at it with narrowed eyes from behind her meat shield. "Does it work like that?"

Elly simply shrugged. "Let's just try backing up slowly. We can make a break for it onc-"

"The hell is that?" Kurumi suddenly asked, pointing at something on the wall to their left. Elly peered at it, stepping closer warily. It was... a sign? It simply said 'safe zone'.

The duo were silent for a moment as they stared. Safe zone? Seriously? They weren't being shot at because of some unspecified line dividing them from their aggressive pursuer?

"Is this a joke or something?" Kurumi murmured with a sigh. "She's just mocking us, right?"

"I guess?" Elly shrugged. "...Does it matter? At least we don't need to worry about that thing any more."

Kurumi's eyes darted briefly to the floating light. "...Yeah, I suppose the random notice written by the psychopath is an excellent source to trust."

Elly turned and began walking down the linear path, paying no mind to the possibility she could be very easily shot in the back. Cursing under her breathe, the frustrated vampire hurried after her, casting a wary glance over her shoulder every step of the way.

* * *

Side by side, the servant and the vampire walked, reaching their ultimate destination. The corridor opened into a vast area, more like a room. The walls were no longer featureless, but seemed to be decorated with stars in mind. Much like outside.

Mugetsu herself sat upon a towering throne, apparently made of gold and silver. With a bright red cushion. She rested her head upon the palm of her hand, elbow poised on an armrest.

"Well, how about that? You made it?" She chuckled darkly. "Weird how even the weakest of the weak can pull of admirable stunts of survival."

"That right?" Elly replied in a challenging tone. Striding ahead of the much more hesitant and sane Kurumi, she approached the enthroned demon confidently. "For someone dressed like a servant, you sure do think highly of yourself!"

Mugetsu's smirk remained. "Oho? Mocking my clothing, now? Well, I suppose you are but a child... tell me, what is your name?"

"And why should I privilege you with that knowledge?" Elly asked.

"Because I was hoping to write a little story based on your exploits," Mugetsu answered with a wide grin. "The story of a brain-dead girl with master issues and a tsundere girlfriend-"

"The hell are you implying?!" A horrified Kurumi gasped, her plan of hiding in the background now shattered.

"-Who tried to do the impossible, and kill a god." Mugetsu finished, unperturbed. Elly could only laugh.

"So now you think you're a god, Mugetsu? How path-"

Mugetsu raised her hand, and Elly fell silent in surprise. The demon had not lost her composure, instead maintaining her smirk as she straightened and continued, "I know exactly what your retort is, little girl. And allow me to point something out. You are in _my_ realm. _My_ domain. Which _I _created."

"...Your point?" Elly said.

"My point, you naive little dumb-ass, is that in my world, what I say, goes. What I want, goes. If I don't like something, I get rid of it."

Mugetsu was on her feet now, strolling towards Elly with an air of murderous intent. "And you know what I hate? Intruders who encroach upon my sacred grounds as if they own the place!"

Readying herself for the conflict, Elly simply grinned back at the demon. "Oh, you don't need to worry about that. My Master intends for you to relinquish ownership of your stupid land. We can deal with intruders at our own leisure."

Mugetsu stopped, ten feet away from her target. The smile remained, but her gaze was cold and sharp. "...I am not particularly fond of thieves, either. Do you not know your place?"

"I know it very well," Was the proud and confident reply. "I am Elly, nothing more than Yuuka Kazami's weapon, to be used as she sees fit!"

Mugetsu folded her arms. "Right, that crap. Okay, guess I'll break you, see what happens."

"She'll fix me."

_Oh dear god this is the dumbest back-and-forth I've ever listened to._ A horrified Kurumi noted.

The blonde demon simply smirked coldly, looking incredibly relaxed as she stared down the far weaker youkai, who could feel an almost overwhelming aura of death radiating from Mugetsu. Elly's grip tightened on her weapon as she prepared to fight.

In all honesty, despite her boasts, Elly was pretty sure her death was assured here. The difference in power was simply too big. A head-on collision would end poorly, even if Kurumi decided to back her up. The most Elly could hope for was that she shake up the demon's psyche as much as possible, screwing up her composure and making it much more difficult to be taken out by some precise hit.

...She could find a way to deal with a berserker later.

Dispelling the doubts from her mind, the scythe-wielding youkai launched herself towards Mugetsu, who maintained her arm-folded posture and smirk.

Elly's first swing was aimed at Mugetsu's head, which was swiftly ducked under. At least that much was within Elly's expectation.

Using the momentum of her swing, Elly pivoted swiftly, repositioning her blade to skewer the enemy with a second swing. Again, as expected, Mugetsu avoided it by stepping backward.

Instead of pursuing, Elly opted to quickly move into a defensive stance, the shaft of her scythe held diagonally across her torso. Her caution paid off, as she was able to see Mugetsu's attack coming quite easily, and swiftly side-stepped the punch aimed at her nose, and attempt to ram the blunt end of her weapon into the demon's side.

That was when things took a turn for the worse.

"Well that only took, what, three seconds?" The monster dressed as a maid asked mockingly, one hand gripping the youkai's face. Her speed was far beyond Elly's expectations, and she was rapidly losing all hope of escaping this fight with her facial features intact.

"Still, I suppose that's not too bad for a pathetic little shit like you." Mugetsu continued, lifting up the struggling youkai. "Ah, and speaking of pathetic..."

With her free hand, the demon turned and punched at the attacking vampire, knocking Kurumi to the floor with a sickening crunch. Taken by surprise at just how insanely painful it was to have the bones in her shoulder relocated much closer to her spine, Kurumi couldn't help but scream and wail. Elly froze at the sound.

"Wow. I know you're a weakling, but I had no idea you were such a wuss!" Mugetsu cackled, staring gleefully at the sobbing vampire. "Hey, guess how you could have avoided that? _By not spouting a load of shit to your superiors!_"

Stepping closer to the defenceless Kurumi, Mugetsu aimed a light kick at her injury, intensifying Kurumi's cries.

"See, if you'd just dropped this dead weight and begged my forgiveness, I might actually have been lenient on you!" Mugetsu mocked. "But no, you had to act tough in front of your girlfriend! And look what it got y-"

Mugetsu flinched, then looked at her stomach. Huh. Someone apparently stuck a scythe there. That was annoying.

Mugetsu turned her gaze towards Elly, still trapped in the grip of the demon's outstretched arm. The youkai had shifted her grip on the scythe to make sure her blade struck its target.

"You talk too much," Elly's muffled voice spoke, somehow managing to be condescending despite the possibility her skull could be smashed into pieces in less than a second. "You're even more annoying than the crybaby over there.

And then the blade was forced upwards.

The demon lost all the colour in her face as her flesh was ripped from stomach to neck. Blood flowed freely from the ghastly wound as she lost her grip on the captive youkai. Staggering away from her two victims, Mugetsu placed her hands over the horrific injury with a look of confusion.

"But... I... you..." She whispered, eyes wide. Elly, rising to her feet from the kneeling position she landed in, stood protectively over the whimpering vampire as she glared at Mugetsu.

"...By the way, if you tell no one I helped you out, no one has to know that you were snivelling like a kid here," Elly muttered to Kurumi.

"S...screw you... too..." Kurumi moaned, although she struggled to keep her pained expression free of any smirks.

In all honesty, Kurumi was totally lost on why she did what she did. Elly's defeat was assured, and her own strength didn't even compare to Mugetsu, so there was no point in making things worse for herself by fighting. She was in enough trouble already.

And yet, as if by instinct, Kurumi had leaped to defend Elly to the best of her ability. Sure, it backfired so horribly that even the most ineffectual hero would consider it a senseless effort, but that didn't change the fact that the vampire was acting even more out-of-character than ever. Well, she noticed that there was a crap-load of crazy going around lately, so maybe she really had caught it...

Elly herself was trying not to dwell on what she just did. She acted not to prove herself, or for the honour of her master or anything like that. Her blade seemed to react to Kurumi's cries, as if sickened by the cause. Granted, Elly had by now developed the opinion that she wouldn't wish Mugetsu on the most loathsome beings deserving of punishment, but the fact remained that she had struck Mugetsu for _Kurumi's_ sake.

And Mugetsu... was in the middle of an overly dramatic death scene.

"Ack! To be killed by such pests! Can I, the almighty Mugetsu, have truly met my end?!" The demon suddenly yelled to the skies, bloody hands raised to it as if reaching out for some distant object. "Alas, to have suffered such disgraceful defeat... there is surely no greater disho-"

Kurumi gaped as Elly suddenly sliced ribbons out of the 'dying' demon.

With brutal efficiency, the lock-haired servant seemed to dance as her scythe arced through the air, constantly cutting into Mugetsu as its wielder circled her, never relenting. The blade was glowing white, too – that sun-imitating spell from earlier. It was certainly doing a good job mutilating its unfortunate target.

When the charred meat that remained finally crumbled to the ground, Elly stopped, eyes cast at the floor, back to the dead demon. Kurumi simply kept staring, unsure if she should be appalled or entranced. On the one hand, that was a pretty damn fine way to end the fight, but... that was most definitely unlike the usual boisterous-but-weak gate keeper.

Elly stepped towards the downed vampire, a weak half-smile forced onto her face. She was panting slightly from exertion, apparently. "...You okay?"

"Uh, I guess." Kurumi answered simply. "Just a powdered shoulder, not a problem for us vampires, y'know."

"Right... come on, let's find Master." Elly sighed, offering a hand to the vampire. Before she could raise her one working arm to take/slap away the hand, however, a second, much bloodier hand suddenly made its presence known. Mainly by jutting out of Elly's chest.

"...What." Kurumi stated in horror.

"The..." Elly gasped, her face completely drained of colour, aside from the blood caking her face and slowly bubbling from her lips.

"-_Fuck_ was that all about?!" The personification of death, dressed in a rather pristine maid outfit growled, her voice freezing the blood of the two unfortunate creatures in its gaze. "Seriously, who interrupts a dying speech?! You utter _bitch_!"

The arm was retracted, causing the very bloody Elly to flinch and sway, blinking dumbly at whatever the hell had happened. She was vaguely aware of Kurumi mouthing something, but the noise wasn't entirely clear for some reason. Weird.

Then a blinding pain shot through both of her arms.

Jolted from her stunned reverie, Elly yelled as both her arms were snapped, left jutting at sickening angles. Her scythe finally clattered to the ground, quickly picked up by the monster that had brutalised Elly a second ago.

Mugetsu's eyes were wild, anger and hate emanating from her very essence. Waves of intense, frightening pressure rolled over both Elly and Kurumi, powerless to resist.

"Never in my entire life has anyone ever been so god damn _rude_ to me!" Mugetsu raved. "Cutting me up life a carcass, interrupting my theatrics – fuck it, I will completely devour you! You and your little girlfriend down there, and your weak-ass master! I will murder the lot of you for what you did!"

Kurumi barely registered the mad demon's words, her mind concerned with only two things: How the hell was Mugetsu completely fine with no injuries whatsoever.. and Elly.

The gate keeper was on the ground, shuddering and sobbing. It looked like she really had cracked, at last. The vampire really wanted to say "told ya so~!" and rub it in her smug little face, but kicking the broken youkai while she was down was a tad low. Oh, right,. And she was probably dead within the next two seconds. That would make things difficult, all right.

"What, neither of you have anything to say?!" Mugetsu snarled, stomping between her downed victims. "No 'I will defeat you's or 'You shall fall to the power of our _friendship'_?! Did you finally realise that in this realm, I am invincible?!"

The monster in the maid uniform began to giggle incomprehensibly, and was still half-ignored by her victims. Instead, Kurumi began inching closer to Elly, dragging her body towards the defeated gate keeper while Mugetsu rambled and stomped around.

_We have no chance in hell, what's the point?_ Kurumi wondered, closing in on Elly. _We're dead, out of power, no more fight left, Kazami's still AWOL, any more resistance will just make death more painful..._

Despite that, however, Kurumi still reached out her one good hand towards her associate, mentally uttering apologies as her fingers brushed the hole in Elly's chest. The wound wasn't immediately fatal for youkai, but it was so close to Elly's heart...

Gritting her teeth and wishing she weren't so utterly stupid, the vampire turned her gaze towards the rambling demon, pointing her bloody fingertips towards her.

Small, almost pin-prick sized needles of blood lanced towards Mugetsu from the outstretched fingertips. Unless Kurumi struck a weak point, they were just going to be highly ineffective, but... it was the only means of defence left. Elly was broken, Kurumi was broken, Yuuka was... probably broken as well. Everyone was just... broken.

Well, except for the regenerated demon that simply stopped the bloody tendrils with nothing more than her sheer, malevolent aura. She was in perfect, unblemished condition, of course.

"Told you that would be useless," Mugetsu giggled chillingly, ceasing her random stomping and slowly turning her head towards the doomed vampire. "_Everything_ you do is useless! Fighting, running, begging for your shitty lives – completely **useless**!"

The force of her words was almost enough to simply rob Kurumi of consciousness right there. In fact, it would've been infinitely preferable if that were the case. Maybe then she wouldn't feel the unholy amounts of pain she was going to feel in the next five seconds.

Mugetsu stepped closer, her malicious grin looking almost grotesque and nightmarish upon her face. All the vampire could do was glare ineffectually, not even having the heart to make a comment on... something. Like how unfair her power was.

"Well, you were persistent little bitches, but at least you're gone for good now," Mugetsu giggled. "And Gengetsu would've finished off the last one long ago! Goof ridda-"

"Hey." Yuuka greeted Mugetsu politely.

"Oh, hi," Mugetsu grunted dismissively. "Anyway, enjoy your trip to he-"

Finally realising who spoke, Mugetsu quickly rounded to face the flower youkai, wearing a bright, friendly smile. Despite all the blood, tears and wounds that adorned her clothes and skin. And _especially_ despite the crimson eyes filled with enough hate and disgust to eclipse Mugetsu's own emotions.

"You're... how?! Why- where's Ge-" the horrified demon spluttered, unable to finish her sentence due to the fist smashing her skull to pieces and sending the rest of her body flying to the nearest wall.

Kurumi's jaw dropped when she saw what had just happened. At the last possible second, she and Elly were saved from death by... someone that the vampire had always considered to be death's drinking buddy. That was a bit... unexpected, really.

_Hope those last second rescues don't catch on..._ Kurumi couldn't help but mentally complain. _My shoulder frickin' hurts._

Yuuka turned her head towards the downed servants, and Kurumi realised just how much of a mess the flower youkai was. It wasn't just ruined clothes or superficial wounds. Yuuka Kazami was... downright exhausted.

"...L-Lady Kazami?" Kurumi inquired, wondering if she had perhaps mistaken the mad creature for her twin sister. She was struggling to comprehend that anyone could have drained Yuuka's strength to such an extent.

"Kurumi... you look injured," Yuuka noted with a forced playful smile. "That'll have to be looked at in a moment."

"...Yeah. I guess." The dazed vampire replied. "...W-wait, what about you? What the hell happened?!"

The flower youkai dropped her smile, grunted something incomprehensible, and stepped towards the downed girls. Kurumi could've sworn she saw Yuuka's eyes ice over when she looked at Elly. But that wasn't right... Yuuka didn't give that much of a crap over their well-being. Hadn't they even been told that several times in the past?

"Wasn't that a bit much, Yuyu?" Asked a voice from somewhere behind Kurumi, causing the vampire to hunch over immediately in terror. It took her several seconds to register the reaction, not even knowing why she had done that. Whoever spoke... despite the cheerful, friendly and even childish tone, Kurumi almost instinctively sensed a creature that rivalled the green-haired monstrosity currently overlooking her servant's state.

Yuuka, totally oblivious to any fear the speaker could inflict, flicked her crimson eyes towards Gengetsu, who had stood directly behind the cowering vampire.

"I don't know. Maybe I did over-react," The flower youkai responded, her voice cold enough to practically frost the floor. "After all, that vile woman did nothing more break my girl's bodies. I suppose my reaction was a bit too much."

"...You sound sarcastic!" Gengetsu giggled, kneeling to pat the shaking Kurumi's head. "Hey there! You're the vampire, right? Nice to meet you! I'm your new mother!"

Kurumi froze. "...What."

"The hell?!" Snarled Mugetsu, launching herself from the wall, face now recognisable as... well, a face again. She gaped at the winged demon in utter horror. "Gengetsu, what the hell are you talking about?!"

Gengetsu beamed at her younger sister with delight. "I got engaged!"

Both the vampire and the younger demon stared at their respective companions, then at each other, confusion completely filling their minds at the moment.

"...Engaged," Mugetsu repeated with disbelief. "Engaged to whom, Gengetsu?"

"The delightfully violent and insane Yuuka Kazami, of course!" chirped the demonic entity with that sunny smile of hers. "I think we're a good match!"

"Yes. Of course you are." Mugetsu nodded. Then aimed her boot for Yuuka's skull.

Fortunately for the flower youkai, she was still swift enough to swing her arm and block the kick with her umbrella, but the shaking of her arm showed that her strength was quickly fading. Not that she had to struggle long, however.

"Mumu!" the winged demon admonished with unusual sharpness, yet still retaining her smile.

To the mind-breaking shock of Kurumi, Mugetsu actually flinched, stepping away from Yuuka and meekly turning to face her sister. The person that constructed an impenetrable maze – well, impenetrable for beings that weren't broken to hell and back – kicked Yuuka miles away, and casually brutalised both Elly and herself, shrugging off any and all damage... was acting like a child caught sneaking snacks or something.

And then the lecturing happened.

"I have to say, I am not pleased with your conduct, little missy!" said the terrifying abomination, playfully wagging her finger under the maid-clad demon's nose. "Don't think I don't know what you were doing, abusing your power so badly against weak little babies like them!"

"B-but-"

"Seriously, they got some nice hits in, don't take that away from them!" Gengetsu continued unabated. "I mean, that's like me eating their entrails because my dreams didn't cause instant bowel movements!"

"Okay, I'm getting the fuck outta here." Kurumi announced, leaping to her feet. "Lady Kazami, it's been an absolute pleasure, but I think I had a meeting with a vampire hunter or something. See you never again."

Yuuka, who had carefully lifted the comatose Elly into her arms, sighed wearily. "Please save your complaints until after we've healed up. You can leave once I make sure you aren't liable to die."

"Oh, _now_ you worry about that..." Kurumi muttered impulsively. Thankfully, Yuuka didn't seem to be in a disciplinary mood. Though the 'caring for others' well-being' mood was a new one, so it was still a tad scary to see.

Yuuka nodded her head forward. "Got our new residence built, by the way."

Raising an eyebrow, Kurumi turned her head. And promptly dropped her jaw so hard it hit the ground. Figuratively.

"Wha- huh- eh-why- what?!" Kurumi gasped at the looming, if somehow-modest mansion. "Why is there- who-"

"Explanations later," Yuuka sighed. "Ah. Gengetsu."

Pausing her berating of the traumatised-looking Mugetsu, the demon craned her neck.

"Give us a month, will you?"

"Okie-dokie~!" Gengetsu complied to the request. Turning back to her sister, Gengetsu muttered, "Let's see... oh yeah, there's being a sore loser, and then there's being an outright cheater-"

Kurumi gazed at the surreal scene for a few more moments before returning her attention to the mansion that had been constructed out of nothing in no time whatsoever. If this was something one of those demons made...

Seeing Yuuka just waltz right on in, the vampire sighed in weary defeat. Screw it, she decided. Today had sucked more than enough, nothing else could make it worse, after all. With one arm hanging uselessly, Kurumi followed the flower youkai.

_The second Elly gets better, I'm hauling ass out of here... Gensokyo's gotta be safer than this hell._ Kurumi mentally grumbled to herself.

* * *

**So yeah... this was going to be the final chapter, but given how long it takes for this thing to update, I figured the non-combat stuff could be saved for later. And shouldn't take _as_ long to actually write. Maybe. Probably.**

**As for the chapter itself... I expect it to be not worth the wait, as usual. You know, terrible writer and all that.**

**So, for those who've managed to enjoy the story so far, thanks and I hope the conclusion doesn't ruin the whole thing for you. For anyone who hasn't... well, I apologise.**

**Just one more chapter!**


	5. 05 - Epilogue

With a sigh of self-derision, Elly stared at the ceiling, lying on her overly-large, grandiose bed.

For the past month or so, she'd been stuck in the same old routine. After spending nearly a week recovering from the damage inflicted upon her, she'd been trying to say those words to her master, that the gatekeeper had resolved to speak. But... it was proving much more difficult than facing down their new landlord.

Putting that tid-bit aside for the moment, Elly had been taken aback when she had regained consciousness to see that Yuuka had been nursing her. That was new and world-breaking. And Kurumi had even peeled an apple for her at some point, face beet-red and never speaking louder than a mumble, but still. Elly was honestly convinced she'd landed in a bizzaro world at first.

Once her arms were fixed and her chest had closed up – youkai healing rates were awesome – she'd immediately thrown herself into housework, working to make up for her bedridden state, even though her master had continually said there was no real need.

Honestly though, the servant just wanted to busy herself with work since she could think best in that state. Plucking up the courage, steeling herself for the inevitable derision she would surely receive, but... it wasn't going too well. Probably because the situation she was in was quite strange.

"You look troubled, Elsie~!" Gengetsu commented happily. "Anything I can help with?"

With a horrified yell, Elly rolled off of her bed, desperately grabbed her scythe, leaning against the wall near her pillow, and furiously swung it towards the nightmare lying beside her.

"Jeez, you don't look as rude as you act..." Gengetsu said in a voice that really should have been accompanied by a pout, not a blissfully-ignorant grin. With her head propped up on one hand, Gengetsu had used a finger of her other hand to block the tip of the scythe aimed at her head.

"O-oh... it's you..." Elly muttered shakily, slowly pulling away her blade. "...Please, don't do that. Or call me 'Elsie'."

"But you didn't like 'Elel', or Elly-Bellie!"

"I know," Elly replied with a hint of disdain.

Giggling, the winged demon shifted to a sitting position, beaming at the nervous servant. "So, you're mind's occupied! Wanna talk about it?"

"...About what?" Elly asked defensively, not really wanting to spend any time with someone that instinctively made her want to flee the universe.

"I dunno, you don't seem too fond of me..." Gengetsu pondered brightly. "Maybe you're not settling in here? Oh, I know! You wanna do unspeakable things to the cute vampire, ri-"

Simultaneously, the Elly by the bed and the Kurumi that had just burst the door open screamed "**Hell no, idiot!**"

Elly immediately rounded on Kurumi, exasperated. "_What the hell are you doing in my room_?!"

"I-I got a bad feeling..." the vampire muttered, momentarily averting her gaze. "Wh-who cares?! Why are you hiding in here with..._ her_?!"

"What are you trying to imply?!"

Gengetsu watched the ensuing argument with curiosity. It was funny, those two had a habit of completely forgetting their surroundings the second they interacted. It was quite admirable how they managed not to kill each other despite apparently being sworn enemies.

The bickering and yelling crawled to a halt as the servant and vampire warily turned their attention to the watching, totally-innocent demon.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Elly asked guardedly.

"Oh, I just came 'round to see Yuyu!" Gengetsu happily informed them, hopping off the bed. With a polite curtsey, she walked from the room, stopping as she passed the duo.

"Oh, right, Elsie-"

"_Elly._"

"-Just so you know, talking to someone can really do wonders for one's troubles~!" the demon continued unabated. "Give it a try, and this mansion of yours will burst with love~!"

Gengetsu skipped down the hall, looking for Yuuka, while Elly and Kurumi watched, occasionally exchanging glances.

"...How does she manage to act so friendly and loving, yet make me feel like I'm simply waiting for a mind-rending monstrosity to punch my sanity to death?" Kurumi asked quietly, once she was sure the creature she referred too wouldn't hear her.

"I dunno, same way you make me want to punch your annoyingness to death?" Elly shrugged, heading back to her bed.

"Use your _real_ words, _Elsie_." Kurumi countered with a grin. "At least pretend you're all grown up, huh?"

Giving a half-assed grunt of mild annoyance, the servant placed her scythe by the bed once more and allowed herself to fall onto it, burying her face in the pillow.

A moment later, there was a tell-tale creasing on the mattress to indicate Kurumi had taken a seat. "Well, you look depressed. What's the problem today, then?"

Elly didn't answer.

"Well... it's either 'my master's flirting with her terrifying girlfriend and not me', 'I overcooked the dream-food and now I have to imagine more', or 'why is Kurumi so much more awesome and likeable than me'. Can I take a shot in the dark and say it's the third one?" Kurumi spoke provokingly, but Elly wasn't taking the bait now.

The vampire sighed with mild annoyance. After a month of sporadic silent episodes and moping sessions, she had to wonder if Elly broke her brain last month. "Uh... did Yuuka laugh at you for wanting to be a daughter, then?"

Elly shifted slightly.

"...Did you even say it?"

Another shift of her body.

"...Jeez, how do you manage to get more and more annoying with each passing day? She's downstairs! Open your mouth and say a few words and get it over with!"

"...Go away." Elly sighed. "That's not even it."

"Oh yeah? Sure, okay," Kurumi rolled her eyes. "You've convinced me. So, when are you going to get around to fulfilling that little vow? If you say 'never'..."

Again, Elly didn't reply, and the vampire let out a groan of frustration.

"See, this is why you suck so much! You act all cool and tough one minute, then you act like a pathetic doormat with a fetish for being told what to do!" Kurumi ranted, leaving her spot on the bed to pace up and down the room. "For once, go _do_ something on your own initiative!"

Elly remained still as Kurumi vented, apparently not listening. Glaring at the despondent servant for a few moments, the vampire just clicked her tongue.

"Fine then. Be that way, see if I care. I'm going back to the lake." She muttered, clearly disappointed. Walking to the bedroom door, Kurumi paused as if to say something, apparently thought better of it, and left.

Elly slowly rolled over onto her back, frowning. That had been a little odd, she'd thought. Kurumi almost sounded like she wanted Elly to go ahead and talk with Yuuka. Well, knowing her, it was just so she can laugh at the inevitable ridiculing. But still...

It really shouldn't be so damn _difficult_! She stood up to Mugetsu, so it wasn't like speaking with her own master was a problem in comparison! With a groan of frustration, Elly rocked from side to side, gripping her head tightly.

_Just hurry up and tell her!_ Elly's mental voice commanded. _You know Kurumi's just gonna make fun of you if you don't!_

And while that was a terrible fate, it wasn't quite motivating enough, for some reason.

_Fine, then maybe Kurumi will just replace you._

Kicking her door clean off its hinges and onto the wall opposite, Elly rocketed down the corridor, a furious look on her face. There was absolutely no way in hell that stupid vampire was replacing her! Anybody but her!

...Not that this particular made any sense, but... Dream World. Nothing made sense in this place. So clearly, it was the fault of this world, and not Elly just being irrationally afraid or grasping at straws just to get this over with.

The mansion was large (as they tended to be), especially considering that it only had three occupants – well, two, since Kurumi preferred her own little space outside the building, so even at her maximum speed, it was at least a minute before Elly reached Yuuka's most likely location.

Not quite breaking down this particular door (leaving it hanging by a splinter didn't quite count, right?), Elly entered the room with a determined expression, facing her somewhat surprised master.

"I have something to tell you!" Elly declared resolutely. "Master, I- ...am I interrupting something, here?"

"Not really, no," Yuuka replied, who was most certainly the kind of person to think that hanging someone upside-down while carrying a spiked rod was 'nothing'.

"I think this can wait, Elsie~!" said the hanging Gengetsu cheerfully.

Elly was... used to her master's habits, so while a sight such as this wasn't necessarily a surprise to her, she never really thought it would happen between these two. The flower youkai didn't seem particularly fond of the demon – her reason being something like 'horrible imagery' – but maybe she softened up a bit?

Yuuka put her implement down, chuckling in an embarrassed manner. "Oh, no, it's not like that! I just thought it was time I paid her back for the inconvenience she caused! Now, you said you wanted to tell me something?"

"Uh..." Elly glanced at the hanging demon, who still wore that freaky grin, an just had to be staring right back at her. "...Outside, please?"

Yuuka replied affirmatively, and together, master and servant left the room, with Gengetsu calling out 'good luck~!' after them. Silent until they reached the mansion's patio, Elly looked out to the marvellous garden her master had grown. It was apparently modelled after Gensokyo's 'most beautiful location'. Which she assumed was Sunflower Haven.

"Is something troubling you?" Yuuka asked with some concern in her voice. "You've been acting a little distant for the past month now. Is this world not to your liking?"

Elly shook her head slowly.

"...Is it the landlords? I'm not too fond of them either, really, but I'd say we have a good enough deal going," Yuuka enquired further, and again Elly shook her head.

"Then what is it?"

After a long inhale and exhale, the nervous blonde slowly turned towards the green-haired woman, her hands quivering. She hated this stupid fear of hers; it didn't matter in the end how Yuuka replied, after all. She was just a servant. Who had already went way beyond her place, calling her master out like this just to say...

Yuuka just smiled gently, stepping closer. "Come on, tell me. What's wrong?"

"I... master, I..."

_Stop being so damn hard to say, stupid words!_

"I... I..."

Her master just watched silently, waiting for the words that Elly was sure Yuuka could tell were coming. Her master had that strange knack of 'reading ahead of the script' to predict what someone wanted to say – her words, not Elly's. The gatekeeper could ramble on about her own interpretation of that phrase, but she was kind of busy acting like a love-struck girl confessing to her prince.

_...That's exactly what this looks like, isn't it_. Elly realised with slowly widening eyes. Oh god, no! That wasn't it! She had to hurry up and say it properly before-

The flower youkai placed a comforting hand on Elly's shoulder, an apologetic smile on her face. "I'm sorry Elly. I love you, but not as my lover. I can't accept your proposal."

Completely white with shock, Elly tried In vain to move her lips, completely missing the strange 'thud' coming from nearby. This was all wrong! It wasn't a love confession! It wasn't! Why did her master have to get it wrong _now_ of all times!?

"Kurumi's available, though. Could always try with her?" Yuuka suggested with a wide smile, and Elly's face quickly glowed red as she yelled, "I-I would never confess to that stupid, un-cute, dimwitted vampire!"

Breathing heavily, Elly slowly became aware of the slight shaking in Yuuka's shoulders. And the tightly-pressed lips. Oh.

Yuuka finally burst into laughter while Elly watched, feeling both humiliated and foolish. Teasing. Of course. Probably should've seen that coming, really...

Silently waiting for her giggling master to stop... well, giggling, Elly stared at the wooden floor, wondering if her skin was warm enough to cook food on yet. It certainly felt like it.

"...My apologies," Yuuka managed to breathe, slowly returning her previous, proud posture. "But I _was_ serious about loving you."

"B-but you just said-" Elly quickly stammered to remind the flower youkai, her words crashing to a halt when she properly recalled exactly what was said. "...N-not as lovers? ...B-but-"

Yuuka walked past Elly, taking a seat on the steps leading to her colourful garden. "It's a bit of a recent revelation to me. I didn't think I was quite capable of it, myself!"

Elly stared silently.

"Well... technically, I held a great love for anarchy, terror, gardening and travelling, but it's not quite the same," Yuuka mused to herself. "For all my life, I had never felt an attachment to anyone that didn't extend beyond 'victim'. To be honest, I don't think I felt anything but contempt and perhaps pity for you, when we first met."

Elly nodded, even though Yuuka couldn't see her. "...I can see why. Back then, I was less than nothing. Just a youkai who couldn't even fend for herself."

"Letting you tag along was just a whim, really. A game to see how long you could follow someone you could never hope to match in stature and power." Yuuka continued, her cheerful tone being replaced with regret and bitterness. "Never would I have believed I would come to _care_ for you."

"I apologise if I have caused you nothing but undue burden, master." Elly automatically replied, bowing low. To her surprise, Yuuka just laughed.

"What a silly thing to apologise for. I quite like this emotion, really. It makes me feel stronger~!" The flower youkai announced grandly. "...Especially if I have two treasures to protect."

_...Treasure?_ Elly tilted her head to the side. "Master?"

Yuuka didn't elaborate on her words, instead just gazing towards her garden with a bright smile. Her crimson eyes, which normally belied Armageddon, held only a gentle wistfulness within them. It was jarring to her gatekeeper, the difference between the elegant and destructive force of nature she'd known for a long time... and the elegant, gentle person sitting before her.

"...Well, I've distracted you long enough, I think," Yuuka suddenly said, turning her body to look at Elly, "What was it you wanted to tell me?"

Oh, right. That. Elly gulped, her nervousness returning once more. But she wasn't going to let it best her this time, not now! She just had to say a few simple words, after all...

"Master, I... for a long time, I've been nothing but a toy for you," the blonde began, ignoring the rising flush in her face. She thought she saw Yuuka's eyes flicker with an emotion, but it had happened too fast for her to be sure. "I was fine with that, really. I mean... it was much better than before, when I wasn't even worth that for anyone."

The flower youkai was silent, her expression unreadable. Elly took a moment to figure out what to say next. She briefly wondered if she should have actually planned a speech.

"...Well, even if you still just used me for entertainment, I-I wouldn't care," Elly slowly verbalised her chaotic thoughts. "Um... what I want to say, really, is... uh, well..."

Elly inhaled.

"...Well, uh... you're like... like a-a... likeamothertomeohlookit'sdinnertimebye!"

Finishing that sentence faster than sound could possibly travel, the flustered servant quickly turned to flee the scene. Her great escape was slightly delayed when she bounced off the door frame, but she managed to orient herself enough to make it through on her second attempt. And meanwhile, the flower youkai stood, stunned.

It took several minutes for her to realise something was trailing down her cheek, and a quick wipe revealed it was a tear. Huh. She could've sworn only victims shed those.

Still, what Elly had said warmed her heart – another thing she had considered impossible. Well, outside of wanton slaughter, but still. It wasn't like her to be touched, but hey, it had been a crazy month.

Smiling to herself, Yuuka dried her eyes and re-entered her home. She was feeling so... _happy_ right now! She might even just forgive Gengetsu and have tea instead.

* * *

Meanwhile, sometime after the unidentified thudding noise, Kurumi was hidden behind the corner of the mansion, out of sight after her little face-plant.

She would have been sitting around doing nothing at the lake full of blood right now, but she had hesitated just outside the mansion, wondering if she'd berated that stupid, curly-haired idiot enough for being a stupid idiot that was stupid. And idiotic. After all, given the way she was, maybe Elly was still moping around her bedroom, acting as if she'd be rejected by the creepily-not-a-psychotic-monster Yuuka that had definitely killed the one she knew and taken her place.

And then those two had appeared outside, and she hid herself, and Elly said something, and Kurumi reacted... and before she could march around that corner to give Elly a well-deserved ass-kicking, who should grab her from behind, covering her mouth? That's right, Mugetsu's _evil _sister! Frankly, the terrified vampire was surprised she was both alive and dry.

Well, after Yuuka and Elly entered the house again, Gengetsu freed her captive. After scrambling several feet away and turning, Kurumi was surprised to find the angel/demon/Yuuka MK II crying! And smiling! Well, okay, the smiling was nothing new (albeit no less creepy), but still.

"Th-that w-w-was so be-be-beautiful!" Gengetsu sobbed, wiping at her tears with a silk cloth. "A-a-and so ad-ad-_adorable_!"

_If I keep quiet, maybe she'll forget all about me._ Kurumi prayed to whichever deity took pity on her.

"What do you think, Kury~? Wasn't she just too cute?"

_I hate you, Random Deity._

"Uh, yeah, sure. Adorable. Cute. Huggable. All that stuff," Kurumi agreed nervously, slowly backing away. "So, uh, I need to be somewhere, so, er, bye?"

"It reminds me of the days when Mumu and I were yey high..." Gengetsu sighed wistfully, vaguely waving her hand around waist-height. "She'd cling to me all day and night, crying and saying she never wanted to leave my side~"

"...Super," the vampire replied, "Um.. leaving now...?"

Undaunted, the demon continued reminiscing, her eyes sparkling with joy. And tears. "Oh, I still remember the days when she'd huggle up with me in the dead of night, whispering "My dearest sister, please protect me from the night terrors"-"

"**WHY WOULD YOU SPREAD SUCH LIES AND FILTH, GENGETSU?!**" the younger sister screamed with the fury of... well, a demon.

"Lies? I'm just remembering our childhood with one-hundred percent fact!" Gengetsu claimed brightly.

"We never even had a fucking childhood! We're demons! Timeless! Ageless! Stop making me out to be some weird, sister-loving... _thing_! The last thing I need is for someone like her to mistake me for- ...Where did the shitty vampire go?"

Mugetsu had pointed at Kurumi's location, only to realise that she had disappeared within the last few seconds. They could see her already-distant figure vacating the area, and could practically hear the 'hell freakin' no!' screaming in her head.

"Hehe, so shy~" Gengetsu chuckled.

"...Yeah. Shy," sighed the younger sister. "Anyways, what the hell are you doing here? Don't you know it's bad for you to associate with lesser beings?"

"You never said I shouldn't associate with family!" Gengetsu pointed out cheerfully.

"Except they're not family," Mugetsu retorted coldly.

"I'm married!"

"That stupid youkai tricked you into waiting several _trillion _years before she'd bother with that!"

Gengetsu's smile didn't really change much, but it quite obviously took on a teasing air to it. The elder sister chuckled, as Mugetsu looked on warily. "What?"

Gengetsu patted her sisters' head, replying with a giggle, "You're so cute when you're jealous~! Don't worry Mumu, I'll always have time to play with you, still!"

The amount of horror conveyed in the younger demon's expression was difficult to express eloquently. Needless to say, she was mortified at her sister's words, and hurriedly slapped Gengetsu's hand away, face glowing red as she wildly searched their surroundings.

"Idiot! Don't say something like that! Why would I ever want to play?!"

The white-clad girl simply took Mugetsu's hands in her own, now smiling gentler than usual, "We're still sisters, no matter who we introduce to our little family, Mumu. I'm not replacing you,"

"Wha...wha..." Mugetsu's face was steadily darkening its shade of red, and she hurriedly averted her gaze. "Sh-shut up! I'm not worried about that! I'm... you're... I-I know you'll skip out on your duty if-"

"I'm sustaining the nightmares of three million, six thousand and two humans as we speak!" Gengetsu reassured her sister. "See? I can work just fine!"

Mugetsu clenched her mouth shut, at a loss for what to say. While next to no one actually knew of who the dream-presiding demons were, just about anyone could still say with confidence that the younger of the two demons was... well... a bit of a condescending bitch. Rude, demanding, cared nothing for anyone...

But if there was one thing Mugetsu had any love for, it was her sister. Sure, Gengetsu was a handful; always fooling around when it came to handing out nightmares, acting like some ten-year old apparently making it her life's mission to force Mugetsu into pulling out every strand of hair she had in frustration. But regardless... they were still sisters. And the only person Mugetsu ever really associated with in their long lives.

So, when three intruders break into _her_ world, demand to _have_ said world, cause a ruckus, and come out of it getting practically what they want with her own sister on _their_ side? One might say it was what she got for being such an overly-aggressive monster who bullied the weak, but all Mugetsu cared about was her own sister preferring some stranger to herself.

Gengetsu herself, while certainly on the low end of the sanity scale, wasn't unaware of her surroundings. Her demeanour hid just how perceptive and even wise she could be. Sure, she liked having fun and _loved_ love, but she certainly wasn't stupid.

"You know, it doesn't matter how many others I'll spend time with," Gengetsu said gently. "For my dearest, irreplaceable sister, I'll always be there for you~!"

"O-okay! Enough! I'm not a jealous brat or anything!" Mugetsu grumbled, still attempting to bore a hole into the floor with her gaze. "Now, j-just shut up! You're so embarrassing..."

Still, the demon couldn't help but feel a _little_ happy... it was almost enough to make her smile.

"That's touching and all, but I'd like to know why Gengetsu here isn't trussed up and hanging from my ceiling like she should be," Yuuka said plainly.

…

"Wh-wh-what the hell are you doing here?!" Mugetsu cried, stumbling away from the surprise presence of the flower youkai.

"I live here."

"Huh, you noticed~? I thought the replacement was perfect!" Gengetsu laughed. Yuuka held up the hand-sized, straw doll that vaguely, sort-of, maybe-perhaps resembled Gengetsu, raising an eyebrow.

The elder demon nodded, "Yeah, prob'ly~! So, we moving back to the whips and stuff?"

"I suppose. Feel free to join us, while you're here," Yuuka addressed the blank-faced Mugetsu. "Pretty sure I never got around to killing you for hurting my girls."

Yuuka turned and headed back inside the mansion, while Mugetsu took a minute or six to process what had just transpired. Eventually, her face flushed red now became even redder. With untold amounts of fury.

"_The fuck did you do to my sister, you perverted witch_?!" Mugetsu roared, her immediate vicinity cracking and crumbling from the pressure she exuded. Charging after the flower youkai, Gengetsu only watched fondly, looking as happy as, well, ever.

Still, seeing the wacky family dynamic going on, it made the crazed demon practically glow with warm affection. She had a wonderful partner to play with for all eternity! Or at least until the end of time. Whichever came first.

* * *

One escape from the deepest pit of hell later, Kurumi found herself staring across the crimson lake, frowning.

She could escape the immediate vicinity of those two monsters all she wanted, it didn't make a difference if she hung around inside this dimension. For whatever reason, when Kurumi was given her own little area to play around in (because a giant pool of blood was clearly what a vampire like to 'play around in'), Mugetsu had also shoved the exit to this whole dimension on the other side of the shore. A tad random, but okay.

The vampire suspected it was just a way to mock her. Yuuka and the demons had made some sort of agreement about a month ago, while she and Elly were still recuperating. They got their fancy little mansion in exchange for being forced to stay in the Dream World forever – or at least until Yuuka beat the crap out of both of them at some point. Wonderful.

...Not that anything was stopping her from leaving right now, of course. From the sounds of things, those two never even leave their realm to begin with. The problems with just up and moving were numerous. Like needing to sleep eventually. That could be disastrous. There was also having nowhere else to go – Gensokyo was a foreign country after all (well, kind of – it was a section of Japan she'd never visited before it became the Eastern Wonderland), and...

...Not that she really cared, but it also meant leaving Yuuka and her stupid, incompetent, idiotic, useless servant alone with them. And Kurumi didn't really feel like ditching anyone a second time, regardless of how annoying present company was.

Sighing, Kurumi sat at the bloody lake's shore, dipping a finger into the sea and licking the blood from it. At least it could satiate her needs well enough... dream-blood was just as good as real blood, it turned out. And she'd longed since made the choice not to question this. She feared that doing so would make her Gengetsu Junior.

Again, the vampire turned her gaze to the opposite, distant shore. Gensokyo, huh? A land filled with refugee youkai... it was far too distant from her old home, from that human. And this place was nigh-impossible to enter, right? Yeah, they'd be safe from any random youkai or human that ever tried to enter.

So really, all she had to do was make the most of her time stuck in this place.

Kurumi stood and took flight, returning to the mansion with a slight smile on her face. If there was one thing Kurumi had learned, it was that teasing Elly made a great pastime.

* * *

**Well. I think I timed the ending well. A day after Hopeless Masquerade/Double Dealing Character: Demo Edition, and a day before the first chapter was uploaded.**

**Still, the usual fears apply; chapter's way too rushed, characterisation sucks, not enough effort... I say a lot of things are my weakness, but I don't think I've added 'endings' to that last. It's always insanely difficult finding a way to end a chapter that doesn't feel like it just stops mid-paragraph or something.**

**Well, terrible or not, at least it's finished. I had fun writing it, but it sure took a lot longer than I'd expected. I definitely need to write more Gengetsu. And Mugetsu. And Kurumi. And Elly. And Yuuka. Basically, I liked writing all the characters here.**

**So... yeah, thanks for reading, apologies if it sucked, and if you enjoyed it, I'm glad. Now, if you'll excuse, I'm off to punch my computer for being too ancient to get HM to work.**


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